Of Blades and Brothers
by Egas Bladesoul
Summary: Naruto isn't the only one that Konohakagure hates. How will Naruto react to having someone who understands his childhood? How will Sasuke react to someone being better than him? Strong Naruto, more competent sakura Naru-hina. AU OC centered
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own Moro. Everyone/everywhere else belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapters will begin with an important bit from the past, and then there will be the main part of the story.

It was raining in Konoha. Or what was left of it. Even now they searched for wounded from the kyuubi's attack. Everyone was mourning the loss of someone, whether their own blood, or a friend. But everyone mourned the death of the Yondaime Hokage. Even worse, with no named successor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, had been asked to take lead once again. "Minato, Kushina," the old man thought, staring into the remains of his beloved village. "I will do my best for your son."

A man pushed his way into the Hokage's office. This man was not a konoha ninja, and he was injured, fatally. From what the Hokage could see, this man shouldn't have been alive. "Please, Hokage-sama," the man coughed out. He handed the old man a blanket wrapped bundle. "Madara Uchiha lives," he managed to say, before falling to the floor, dead. From inside the bundle, a baby started crying. As he unwrapped the child, he pulled a letter from ontop of the boy's chest.

Hokage-sama,

Please, Hokage-sama, I beg a favor of you. A stranger has come to our village and demanded that we serve him. He saw us as a threat to his plans, and he offered us a choice. He said that he would be back in one weeks time, after taking care of some business in konoha. I realize that chances are that by the time you are reading this, your village has been ravaged by this man's plans. In order to foil this man's plans, we, the Chiarashi clan, intend to commit mass suicide. However, I cannot, no I will not, take the life of my newborn son. I realize the stigmatisms that many of the leaf clans hold over the reason why we left, and that my child will live a hard life, but I could not bear to end the life of the child that I only so recently brought into this world. I ask this of you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, because you showed my clan compassion when we left Konoha. Many of the clans called for our blood. They named us traitors, because of what we could not and would not bring ourselves to do as we had been ordered. But you allowed us to leave in peace, and so now I ask you to take my son Moro and raise him as a konoha ninja, in spite of all of the pain he will face.

Hikari Chiarashi, Wife of the Head of the Chiarashi clan

Sealed inside the letter was a rack of scrolls. On it there was a note.

Hokage-sama, please give each scroll to Moro at the designated time.

Six years later

"Naruto, up here, you idiot," a boy called to the little blonde boy running through the streets with a mob chasing him. The boy quickly turned into the alley and scurried up through the window. "We should be safe in here," the first boy said, pulling his brown hair out of his green eyes.

"Thanks, Moro," Naruto sighed. "I really needed the help."

"Yeah, I make sure I stay in during the kyuubi festival. Why do they hate us, Naruto?"

"I don't know, aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" Naruto retorted. Moro ignored him, peeling an orange with his teeth. "What should I do to Iruka-sensei tomorrow in class?" the blonde asked.

"Umm, you could shock him by paying attention?"

"I got it!" he exclaimed. "I bought some fake puke the other day, and i'll..."

Their years at the academy followed the same sort of pattern. Naruto would end up in a predicament, sometimes Naruto would cause it, most of the time not, and Moro would bail him out. More times than not, when they thought the coast was clear, Iruka-sensei would show up behind them and yell at them. While Moro was one of the best students, Naruto often had the lowest grades. It wasn't that he didn't try, but other than Iruka, all of the other teachers treated him like he was an idiot, like he couldn't possibly understand what they were talking about.

"You know, you don't have to spar alone, Naruto," Moro sighed, watching the blonde try to copy what he had seen the older students doing. "How did you learn? They don't teach you any more than they teach me?" the blonde asked, exasperated.

"True, but a true warrior never lets another stand in his way. There are some people who are nice to us, Ichiraku, the fruit vendor, Oji-san, to name a few. I know a few jonin who were willing to "help" me with something I thought up. Kurenai-sensei helped me set it up, and Gai-sensei, Lee-san, and a few of the chuunin provided the basic techniques," Moro explained.

"Wha," Naruto asked confused.

"I'd be easier if I just showed you," Moro sighed. He led Markus back to the Chiarashi compound and began rummaging through a bag of scrolls. "Here it is," he announced, holding up a black scroll with the kanji for genin written on it. "This is a genjutsu imprinted on a scroll. It doesn't have all the benefits of actually sparring, but it can teach you the forms for a few fighting styles," Moro finished explaining.

"I don't get it," Naruto said. Moro sighed, deciding it would be easier just to show his thick-skulled friend. He unrolled the scroll and pointed it at Naruto, who was trapped into the genjutsu instantly. Moro sighed. Genjutsu always was Naruto's weak point.

"Moro-teme, I'm going to kill you," Naruto yelled at the empty dojo. A faceless man walked into view, and began attacking him. The person was about his speed, but his forms were much cleaner. Naruto, dim though he may be, quickly realized that this person was trying to teach him. He mimicked the attacks of the faceless attacker, and their blows struck each other. The doppelganger began using different moves, and Naruto learned to not only perform them, but also how to counter them. After what seemed like hours, the faceless man gestured to a scroll on sitting on a rack that said release.

"Welcome back," Moro said with a grin.

"Teme," Naruto answered angrily, smacking him in the head.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Moro responded while rubbing his head. "It's basic taijutsu, like what they teach at the academy. I've got some others, some of different styles, others with advanced techniques. But Kurenai-sensei makes me take a test before I can learn the more advanced style."

Naruto seemed to grasp how much their skills could improve using this method. "The only downside is that you can't build the necessary muscle mass, so I follow this up with an intense work-out," Moro continued.

"Let's really spar," Naruto said impatiently. Moro smiled and nodded. Naruto charged in to attack, but Moro just dodged any of his attacks.

"You'll have to be faster than that," Moro goaded. Naruto swore before redoubling his efforts. This time Moro blocked the attacks, not countering yet. Considering the way Naruto had been fighting just that morning at the academy, this was a whole new level, but he still couldn't hit the brunette. "Ready to end this?" Moro asked. Naruto just grunted, and continued his onslaught. Moro ducked underneath a punch aimed at his nose and brought his open palm up into the blonde's gut just beneath the ribs. The boy coughed and fell down with the wind knocked out of him. Moro offered a hand, which the blonde readily took. "You did good, Naruto."

"Good? I couldn't even touch you, though," he complained.

"Naruto, I came up with this trick last year. Kurenai-sensei says that I fight at upper chuunin level at least," Moro explained.

"TEME! Why are you just showing me this now?" Naruto yelled.

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, Naruto," Moro sighed.

"Wait, you can fight at chuunin level? But, next to me, you're the worst in the class," he stated, confused.

"Never reveal your skills to your enemies. Besides, our grades are sabotaged," Moro admitted.

"Sabotaged? WHAT! You mean I could actually be doing well, if they were fair?" Naruto yelled.

"Nope, you're just that lousy," he joked, earning him another smack in the head. "Anyways, we have academy in the morning, and then I normally work on taijutsu right afterwards, and ninjutsu at night, if you're going to be training with me."

"You don't practice genjutsu?" Naruto asked, both curious and slightly relieved.

"I'm as bad as you are at genjutsu," Moro said, gritting his teeth. "I can't hold one to save my life." Naruto laughed at this, and then they began their rigorous training.

With Moro's guidance, Naruto improved vastly, becoming at least upper genin level in taijutsu by the time of the graduation exam, and could use kawarimi and henge reliably, and occasionally he could use bunshin without them being horribly sickly. However, they kept with Moro's philosophy of having as many aces up their sleeves as possible. Naruto's biggest surprise was when he found Moro practicing with a boken in the dojo. Despite the amount of time the duo spent together since neither had anything better to do, never before had Naruto seen his friend practicing with a sword. Initially Moro had been reluctant to help Naruto learn any of the kenjutsu because of his problems with his taijutsu and the extent of his skill, but after a long prank war, lots of begging, and finally, with Naruto winning a bet, Moro began to teach Naruto the basic forms, while he himself used his family's kenjutsu style, tora no tsume.

Naruto's least favorite part of his training with Moro was the boy's insistence on academic knowledge. He made sure that Naruto could read and write properly, as well as do mid-level math and physics. The best, however, was that Moro loved ramen as much as he did, and they frequented Ichiraku's.

"How'd you do?" Naruto asked his friend as he walked out of the practical portion of the exam. Moro adjusted his headband to show his friend that he passed.

"Don't worry, just relax and you should do fine," Moro encouraged him as his name was called.

"Easy for you to say, genius," Naruto retorted before walking in.

"Alright Naruto, first I need you to use Kawarimi no jutsu," Iruka said, mortified. To his surpise, Naruto did perfectly, before the blunt shuriken hit him.

"Next is the henge," Mizuki said, and Naruto once again performed the jutsu. "Now do a basic genjutsu." When it became clear that Naruto couldn't, Iruka continued.

"Alright, Naruto, this is it. Last jutsu. If you do this, you pass, otherwise…" he let the threat hang. Naruto began channeling his chakra, but as he released it for the jutsu it pulsed, shattering his concentration and his hopes. "Naruto… YOU FAIL!" Iruka yelled with a quick examination of the defective and diseased clones.

"Come on, Iruka," Mizuki said. "Technically he did manage to create a bunshin."

"No, Mizuki. I'm sorry Naruto, but everyone else can make at least two healthy clones, but you can't even create one. Maybe next time," he added apologetically. Feeling defeated, Naruto snuck out to the swing to pout without Moro knowing.

"Didn't pass, did you?" Moro asked solemnly. Naruto just shook his head no.

"It was just the damn bunshin. I panicked," he explained.

"Moro Kentoshi, hokage-sama wishes to speak with you," a cat masked anbu announced.

"I'll catch you later, Naruto, try not to let it get you too down." Moro walked through the trees towards the hokage's tower. "Hi Hinata," he said casually as he walked passed the first.

"M-moro?" she asked, blushing because she had been caught. Moro laughed, breaking into a run. Maybe he should try to set the her up on a date with Naruto. If she could stay conscious through it, it would do wonders for her lack of confidence.

Moro knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Ah, good morning Moro. I have another scroll for you," he said, reaching into his deck. He tossed a scroll at Moro, who caught it. "How's Naruto?"

"I've never seen him like this. Failing again has him really down. He really wanted to pass this time," he said, sighing.

* * *

"Hey, Naruto," someone called to him.

"Oh, hi Mizuki-sensei," Naruto answered dejectedly.

"Listen, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there's an extra credit assignment for the test. All you have to do is steal the forbidden scroll and learn one jutsu. If you show me that you can, you can be a genin with the others." Naruto's eyes lit up, and he ran off.

* * *

When he got back to his house, Moro lit a few candles for his family. Sandaime-sama had explained it to him when he he had asked. It was when he had been five. That had been the first time that the sandaime had called him to his office to give him one of these scrolls. The hokage had told him, with a look of great sadness, that his parents had died fighting the kyuubi shortly after he was born, and their last words were how they wished they could have raised him. After that, Moro had taken to lighting a candle to their souls every time he was given a scroll.

He unrolled the paper and sliced his finger on a kunai. He rubbed the blood along the length of the paper and a there was a small popping, and smoke filled the room. When the smoke cleared, three statues appeared along one wall of the dojo. The first was a black dragon holding a ninjato in its mouth. At the base was the inscription Kuroryu no ha, Fukushu. The middle statue was of a phoenix with another ninjato in his talons. Its inscription read Faiabado ni ha, Masayoshi. The final was a white dragon with a ninjato held in its paw. The inscription read Shiroryu no ha, Mashi.

After staring at the statues for a long time, Moro grabbed the one held by the phoenix and pulled it from its grasp. Reverently he pulled the sword from its red sheath. The blade was ruby, with veins of a lustrous sapphire. It felt right in his hand. Reverently, he drew the blade across the palm of his hand, letting it taste his blood, before sheathing it again and returning it to the statue. The villagers would try to get him killed for theft if they saw him with such a blade. Surely the "little traitor brat" couldn't have something like that.

Moro returned his attention to the note that came with the scroll.

My dearest Moro,

Congratulations on completing the academy, my son. Even now I am overcome with sorrow that I can not watch you grow. Every ninja needs a proper weapon, and I have ensured that you are well along the path to being able to use one of these swords. I do not know which, only that one of them will fit you. Already you know much kenjutsu, as well as some mid-level fuuton and basic jutsu of the other four elements. Yes, I know your chakra type. Every one of our clan has had a primary chakra of wind.

As you probably already have realized, these aren't regular ninjato. Our clan was charged with keeping them safe, until they come into the hands of their rightful wielders. But that is for a later date. I am ashamed to say that I know nothing about you, son. I don't know what you like to do, I don't know anything about your friends, I don't know anything. The one thing I know is that I am proud that you don't resent me, resent us, for leaving you alone. I know that the villagers treat you like a monster because of us. I hope someday you will understand what we did and why, but you are still too young for that. So I ask of you, make me proud, so that when we finally meet in the next world, I can continue to be proud to call you my son.

Love,

Mother

Moro was crying by the end of the letter.

* * *

"Naruto, what are you doing?" the hokage asked as the blond ran past. The boy swore loudly and turned to face him.

"Sorry, Oji-san, I have to pass this time," Naruto explained. "Oiroke no jutsu." The old man flew through a wall, propelled by the nosebleed. Naruto didn't take the time to find out how far the old man had went. He had to work fast if he wanted to learn a jutsu from the scroll before someone found him.

* * *

Moro put up his boken and went to find Naruto. His friend would need some cheering up, and he knew just how to do it. Nothing improved Naruto's mood like Ichiraku's. As he headed towards Naruto's usual training ground, he heard the alarm from the hokage's tower. "Naruto, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" he asked himself as he ran off towards the hokage's tower.

A/N: So, what do you think? Will Moro reach Naruto before he does something stupid? Will Naruto get ramen? Will Moro set Naruto and Hinata up? Who will get the other ninjato? Of course. Really though, reviews appreciated. Should I give a japanese translation, since i'm not using all the lines and accents and what-not from the rough translations? I'll post the next part when I get to it, which shouldn't be too long, I want to get to the zabuza fights.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I only own Moro. Everyone/everywhere else belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Baka, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Moro asked an exhausted Naruto who clutched desperately to a large scroll.

"I don't want to have to go back to the academy again, Moro," Naruto answered, panting. "All I have to do is master a jutsu from this scroll."

"Half the village is looking for you. Most of them are planning on killing you if they find you."

"Moro, Naruto? You're both here?" Iruka asked from up in a tree. "Naruto, give me the scroll, and we can go back to the village." Moro reached down to his hip pouch and through a shuriken at Iruka.

"Moro, what are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Thats not Iruka-sensei," he answered. There was a puff of smoke and Iruka turned into Mizuki.

"How did you know?" the chuunin asked.

"Iruka doesn't talk to Naruto like that. You have too much hate in your voice, traitor."

"I'm a traitor? I didn't steal the forbidden scroll of sealing. Your, friend did that. And your family betrayed the village. How dare you call me traitor," he retorted coldly.

"Run Naruto, go to hokage-sama, explain it to him. I'll hold Mizuki off for now," Moro ordered. Naruto, looking confused, ran the opposite direction.

"You, hold me off? Is that a joke? I'm a chuunin, and you're hardly even a genin," Mizuki laughed, pulling a giant shuriken off his back.

-0-0-0-0-

Naruto was confused. And albeit that wasn't exactly something new, the situation was different than when he was being lectured by Iruka-sensei. Moro had put himself in danger to fight someone who outranked him.

"NARUTO!" someone yelled. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Iruka was leaping through the trees behind him.

"Mizuki-sensei said that if I learned just one jutsu from this scroll that it would count as extra credit and I could graduate and become a genin," Naruto explained.

"Mizuki, that traitorous bastard," Iruka muttered.

"Naruto, I took care of Mizuki, lets go back to the village," Moro said, running through the trees. Naruto pulled out a kunai and threw it.

"Nice try, teme," Naruto growled. With a poof, Moro turned into Mizuki. "What did you do to Moro?"

"Give me the scroll and I'll take you to him," Mizuki offered.

"Don't listen to him, Naruto," Iruka interrupted. "He's trying to trick you."

Mizuki laughed maniacally. "And you're one to talk, Iruka? You hate him, just like everyone else. Hey kid, do you want to know why everyone hates you? Why they stare at you like that? The Yondaime never killed the Kyuubi. He just sealed it away inside a newborn baby. He sealed it in you. "YOU ARE THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!" Naruto didn't know what to do. Mizuki threw a handful of shuriken at him. Iruka leapt in front of him and was stabbed by the shuriken. Naruto panicked and ran away.

"Do you know what he is going to do now, Iruka? That demon is going to let the kyuubi out, and its going to destroy the village. Precious Naruto is going to destroy Konoha, and everyone in it. And do you know why? Because thats what demons do." Naruto glanced out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. Iruka laughed.

"You're right. The kyuubi would destroy the village. But Naruto won't. You don't get it, Mizuki. Naruto might contain the kyuubi, but he is nothing like the monster that killed my parents. Despite the fact that he has every right to be bitter, he is determined to rise up and show the villagers that he isn't what they think he is, because Naruto is a good person," Iruka answered.

Mizuki scowled. "I was planning on killing Naruto and then coming back to play with you, but I think I'll kill you now." he grabbed the last shuriken off of his back and threw it at Iruka, who was too weak from his earlier injuries to dodge it. He waited for the shuriken to finish him, but it never came. Instead, there was a clash of steel on steel.

"Thought you could get away from me so easily, huh Mizuki?" Moro answered with a grin. He stood in front of Iruka with a kunai glowing with chakra. The shuriken had been cut in half and flew into two nearby trees. "If you try to harm my friends, I will teach you the meaning of pain."

Nearby, Naruto watched in awe as Iruka and Moro fought to protect him. "It doesn't matter how much you get back up. Why won't you just learn you can't beat me?" Mizuki shouted. "WATER BULLET JUTSU." Several blasts of water smashed painfully into Moro and Iruka.

Naruto growled and appeared in front of the next wave of blasts. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared, hi chakra spiking. "TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Thousands of Narutos appeared in the trees. They all leapt at Mizuki and gave him one hell of a beating. After it ended, the clones vanished and Naruto sat down against a tree, exhausted. "Was that true, Iruka-sensei? That the kyuubi killed your parents?"

"Yeah. Afterwards, I was all alone. No one payed any attention to me, so I started to act out, like you do. Come here, Naruto, I have something for you," he answered. "Close your eyes." When Naruto opened them, Iruka had put his hatai-ite on Naruto. "Congratulations, Naruto, you passed the genin exam." He then passed out from his injuries. Moro laughed. "I'll take care of him, Naruto. Get yourself home and get some rest."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Iruka woke up shortly after Naruto had left. "We need to go to the Hokage's Tower," he instructed.

"You sure?" Moro asked. "You took some pretty hard hits there."

"Duty first, personal problems after." Moro helped Iruka back into the village. Most of the villagers were still looking for Naruto. Moro ordered any shinobi they saw to report to the Hokage. They walked in on the hokage assigning teams to the jonin.

"Kurenai, you'll teach Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. There skills will work best with your own, and allow them to grow the most. Any thoughts?"

"The Hyuuga's byakugan, Inuzuka's nin-ken, and Aburame's kikai. Tracking and espionage, hokage-sama? The old man smiled at her deduction.

"Asuma, you'll be teaching the new generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. And that just leaves, you, Kakashi."

The white haired ninja looked up from his orange book. "Surely you could assign the last team to one of the other jonin?" he asked hopefully. The Hokage just shook his head.

"The only three left are Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Nodachi Moro." Iruka cleared his throat. Moro set the injured chuunin down against the wall, and then brought the Hokage the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing.

"You didn't include Naruto in a team, Hokage-sama," Iruka interrupted. "I just graduated him. He had been tricked into stealing the scroll by Mizuki. When Mizuki threatened me and Moro, Naruto defeated him with kage bunshin."

"He let Mizuki trick him into stealing the scroll, and we're making him a genin?" he asked.

The Hokage sighed. "Naruto had no reason not to trust Mizuki. Mizuki was one of his teachers. If Naruto couldn't trust him, who should he have trusted?" Asuma sighed his agreement. " Moro, you're dismissed, we'll make sure Iruka gets help." Moro nodded to the old man and left. "So now we have a bit of a predicament. We have four students, and teams are normally of three genin and a jonin instructor. Any suggestions?"

Nara Shikaku spoke up first. "We have two options, Hokage-sama. We could make a team of four, or split them into two teams of two."

"If you were to make pairs, I would put Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke on one, and Haruno Sakura and Nodachi Moro on the other. From what I've seen, Sakura's abilities would allow her to use the genjutsu that Moro can't, while he can buy her the time to prepare for some of the more elaborate genjutsu, and Naruto and Sasuke would push each other to their limits. Sasuke also makes up for Naruto's inability to perform even the simplest of genjutsu," Kurenai added.

Shikaku nodded. "If you were to take that route, that would be the best plan of action. Moro and Sakura have a nuetral relationship, and similar personalities. They could easily be solid partners. Sasuke and Naruto would be a nightmare for their sensei, due to Uchiha's confidence and pride, and Uzumaki's curent status as dead last, and Uzumaki's desire for attention. However, if he could make them work together, their skills would greatly augment the others. On the other hand, it would make most of the formations useless, as without that extra person they would be open to attacks, and they wouldn't have the necessary manpower for many missions. If you would choose this path, I would say put Kakashi in charge of Naruto and Sasuke, due to his emphasis on teamwork. For Moro an Sakura, my suggestion for would depend on what you want the team to focus on. For stealth missions, I would suggest Mitarashi Anko. Her style could be adopted by Sakura, and Moro is more of an independent learner as it is."

"I disagree," Inuzuka Tsume said. "I would pair Haruno and Uchiha and Nodachi and Uzumaki. Nodachi and Uzumaki are already friends and are known to train together, as well as work together in some of the more elaborate pranks that Uzumaki is always getting in trouble for," she said, remembering a recent incident which involved fleas, itching powder, and shampoo. The entire Inuzuka clan had been itching uncontrollably for weeks. "Haruno, like most of the girls, has an obsession with Uchiha that he ignores, but if he can open up and treat her like a teammate instead of a fangirl, they could work together excellently."

Asuma pulled out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. He went to grab his lighter, but one look from the hokage stopped him. "Naruto and Moro may work well together, but Moro is the best equiped to partner up with Sasuke. Moro doesn't care what Sasuke thinks, both have decent ninjutsu and taijutsu, Moro excels at kenjutsu, and Sasuke is an all-rounder, but as I understand, the Sharingan excels at genjutsu, which would make them completely balanced."

One of the other jonin interrupted him. "What do you mean, Moro is decent at ninjutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu? His test scores are about the same as Shikamaru's, and the only worse grades are Naruto's."

Asuma shook his head. "Moro trains with Naruto everyday, and studies things far beyond academy level."

"Are you suggesting that the academy instructors are being unfair in their grading?" another asked.

"How hard can the genin test be if a child who managed to steal the forbidden scroll from under the noses of the hokage and several anbu teams, as well as avoid being found for several hours without leaving the village can't pass it?" The jonin looked around uncomfortably and kept his mouth shut.

"Due to the prejudices of the village, Haruno, like most of the children, despises Naruto," Kurenai challenged. "The best way to do this would be to make a team of four. I wouldn't mind having Uzumaki if he has an affinity for kage-bunshin like Iruka says. He may not be skilled in tracking like the rest of the team, but his speed and stamina would allow him to compensate. Also, if he can work with Hinata, she can come out of her shell, and Inuzuka Kiba has been around Uzumaki enough for them to get along. Aburame Shino is nuetral towards the boy, and only his cold exterior makes Naruto feel as if he is being treated poorly."

Kakashi looked up from his orange book. "I think you all are missing something. Moro and Naruto should be on the same team, and they may be capable of helping Sasuke deal with his obsession. And, with Naruto's crush on Sakura and Sakura's crush on Sasuke, they might all be able to work together well. As far as Naruto bringing Hinata out of her shell, he is utterly and completely oblivious to her affection. Perhaps in time, it would work, but it also has the chance to completely devastate Hinata's already low confidence. What would happen to that girl then? I can train Sasuke with the Sharingan, Moro trains himself and Naruto, and despite her current weakness, Sakura has lots of potential. How to bring that out, I haven't got a clue, but I'm sure I can figure something out."

"You're just trying to make it so you don't have to work as hard," Kurenai accused. "and put that damn book away before I burn it." Kakashi visibly paled at the thought. "You'd love to have students that mostly teach themselves. Besides, we don't nee more students with no sense of puntuality."

"I'm the only one who can properly train Sasuke to use the Sharingan, and of all the jonin in this room, I'm the most capable to deal with Naruto should anything happen. Or do you think that your genjutsu can supress it?" Kakashi insinuated. "Also, given the fact that they are mostly heavy-hitter combat types, the number and variety of jutsu allows me to teach them all."

Kurenai sighed. The hokage coughed. "Well then, I guess its settled then. Kakashi will take all four. Dismissed." After the jonin left, the advisors came up to him. "Do you think it wise to put the kyuubi on the same team as an Uchiha, Sarutobi?" Danzo asked. "I could always take the boy and train him to his fullest potential.

"Thank you for the offer Danzo, but I believe Kakashi will handle all of them marvelously," the hokage answered, surpressing a grimace before leaving. The other two advisors followed him out.

"One day, Hiruzen Sarutobi, I'll knock you off your high horse and take your place. Then I, Danzo Shimura, will teach this world discipline as I rule it with an iron fist."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STUDYING? Naruto yelled as he let himself into Moro's house. "WE JUST GRADUATED FROM THE ACADEMY!"

"Its called calculus, Naruto," Moro sighed. "Just because we aren't forced to study, doesn't mean it isn't useful."

"You'll never find a use for that on an actual mission," Naruto countered.

"I bet you that I can," Moro said, forming a plan.

"You're on," Naruto said with a grin. "If I win, you buy dinner at Ichiraku's."

Moro wrote something on a scroll and sealed it with a bit of wax. "If I win, you do whats written on this scroll, no complaining."

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "Deal. Hey, I need to go to visit oji-san. I need to get my ninja license still."

"Take it easy, Naruto," Moro said. "Remember, we gotta be at the academy tomorrow at seven for team assignments."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

While he was getting his picture taken, a little kid burst through the door. "Prepare to die, oji-san." He charged at the old man with a kunai in his hand. Naruto saw what was going to happen a moment before it did. As the boy charged at the hokage, his exceptionally long scarf got tangled around his leg, tripping him. Naruto leapt out of his chair, grabbing the boy by his hand and catching him, effectively stopping him from stabbing himself. "What? How dare you touch me," he cried outraged. "Do you know who I am."

"Honorable Grandson, please, let me train you. Its the only way you will become good enough to beat Hokage-sama," a man ordered.

"No, I want him to train me. I've done your training, Ebisu-sensei, and he beat me," the boy whined.

"Forget it kid, I don't want to train a brat like you," Naruto said, walking out.

"You can't say no to me, I'm the hokage's grandson, Konohamaru."

"I wouldn't care if you were Amaterasu, you're a brat," Naruto retorted. "If you wanna be hokage, that means you gotta be the best in the village. If you want me to aknowledge you as having the right to be hokage, you're gonna have to beat me," Naruto announced as he jumped out of the window. Konohamaru stared in awe.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"You're late," Moro scolded him as he whacked him on the hea with a boken. "Anything interesting happen?" Moro bent down and picked up a small pebble that had gotten kicked in. He began tossing it up and catching it. Without a glance, he flicked the pebble the wall behind him.

"Ouch, whaddya do that for, ya big bully?" Konohamaru asked.

"Trespassing on private property is a crime you know," Moro answered. He turned to Naruto. "You were followed, baka."

"Teach how to be a ninja, Naruto," Konohamaru whined. "Show me some jutsu."

Naruto grinned deviously. "OIROKE NO JUTSU." He turned into a nude blonde, and Konohamaru got a ferocious nose bleed.

Moro sighed. "FUUMAKEN!" swinging the boken at Naruto. A blast of wind hit the nude blond and pushed her(?) through the wall. "YOUR GOING TO FIX THAT!" he yelled. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO USE THAT JUTSU." Konohamaru chased after the no longer female Naruto.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I got it, Naruto-sensei," Konohamaru said, exhausted. "Watch me, Naruto. OIROKE NO JUTSU!" He turned into a nude brunette. Up in a tree, Ebisu twitched, watching what Konohamaru was learning.

"Honorable Grandson, please, stop this foolishness," he pleaded.

"I'll defeat you with the technique I learned from Naruto-sensei," Konohamaru defiantly. Ebisu twitched at his transformation.

"Idiot. Such a tasteless technique won't work on someone like me," Ebisu yelled, outraged.

"Naruto-sensei, help me," Konohamaru cried.

"If Oiroke no jutsu won't work, then I'll just have to use my new version. Haremu no jutsu!" Dozens of Narutos appeared and henged into his female form. They clung to Ebisu and began to pose and do other suggestive things to the man. Ebisu's nose sprouted blood and propelled him across Konoha.

Konohamaru stared at the girls, looking disappointed when Naruto dispelled them. "Naruto, from this moment on, we're rivals. Its a race to the rank of Hokage."

"Alright, kid, just know that I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Naruto-sensei."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Naruto and Moro sat in the back of the room the next day as the others began to file in. Sasuke entered shortly after them, followed by Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino. The last two to arrive were Sakura and Ino, who both tried to force their way through the door at the same time. One of the other genin catcalled. "Woo, girl on girl." After managing to get through the door, both girls punched the boy int the head hard. Moro snickered. Iruka quieted them and began to separate them into teams. Moro began to space out, waiting for his name to be called.

Moro had been placed on Team Seven with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. At first, Naruto was ecstatic and Sakura depressed, but that reversed when they heard Sasuke was also on the team. Team Eight consisted of Shino, Hinata, and Kiba. All three would be skilled at tracking and intel. Kiba and Shino seemed impassive towards the group, but Hinata seemed slightly crestfallen. Moro smiled sadly at her. He'd do something soon if his plan didn't work. Team Nine consisted of Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. None of them were surprised, as if they had expected that.

The jonin senseis came and took their teams, and soon only Team Seven was left waiting for their sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Eventually, Naruto and Moro exhanged a glance and decided to act. Moro handed Naruto a fluorescent green colored ball, which Naruto put in a bucket of water, before placing it above the door. Meanwhile, Moro prepared a tripwire with glue and feathers. Sasuke obviously disapproved. " Bakas, he's a jonin, do you really think he'd fall for something as simple as those tricks?" Sakura asked.

"But Sakura, we really wanted to try out our concentrated paint balls," Moro answered. "Would you rather we defaced the Hokage's Monument again?"

"Concentrated paint balls?" Sasuke asked, increduous. Just then, their sensei opened the door, and set off the traps. He was coated in feathers and dripping in bright green paint. His white hair was particularly affected by it.

"Team Seven, then. Well, my first impression is, I hate all of you. Meet me on the roof in two minutes," he ordered. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke bolted out the door. Moro, however, chose to go out the window. He beat the other three by a minute and a half, much to Sasuke's irritation. "Right, then, how about you all introduce yourself?" Kakashi suggested.

"What do you mean, introduce our selves?" Sakura asked. Moro sighed in disgust.

"You know, considering you had the highest academic scores of all the kunoichi, you're not too bright," Moro said. Sakura had a vein pop out of her forehead in rage. "I'm Nodachi Moro, I enjoy swordplay and training, as well as discovering new ways to use jutsu, learning, and food. I dislike slackers, so called prodigies, and I will not tolerate people calling Naruto a demon or me a traitor. My dream is to become a respected shinobi and learn more about my missing family."

"What do you have against people calling Naruto a demon, traitor-kun," Sasuke said with a smirk. Before Sasuke could blink a kunai had flew three fourths of the way to him. It nicked the top of Sasuke's scalp and cut a portion of his hair off. Blood trickled down next to his left eye.

Sakura's eyes bulged in their sockets. "HOW DARE HE!" screeched inner Sakura. Naruto went pale when he saw Sakura's face, having felt Sakura's wrath before. "HOW DARE YOU HURT SASUKE-KUN!" she shrieked. As she went to hit him in the head, she missed the handsigns that Moro quickly ran through. She smiled pleasantly with the thought of avenging Sasuke. A poof revealed Sasuke where Moro had been sitting, now passed out from the blow. Sakura took one look and fainted.

"Um, well, then, how about you next blondie?" Kakashi asked, supressing his desire to roll around laughing.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and learning new jutsu. I dislike the three minutes to cook cup camen, and Sasuke-teme. My dream is to become Hokage, so that all of the village will aknowledge me." By the time he finished, Sasuke and Sakura had woken up. Sakura was getting ready to attack Moro when Kakashi stopped her.

"Don't kill him while I'm here, I don't wanna do the paperwork. Your next pinkie," he said.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are (giggles and glances at Sasuke). My dislikes are (scowls and looks at Moro and Naruto). My dream is (blushes and looks at Sasuke)."

"She hardly gave more info than I was planning on giving," Kakashi thought. "Alright, your up, kid," he said, gesturing to Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke. My likes and dislikes are none of your concerns," he said, mostly directing this at Sakura. "I don't have a dream, but one day I will kill a certain man and rebuild my clan."

Sakura stared in awe while Naruto looked scared. Moro yawned. "Alright then, you can have the rest of the day to yourselves. Meet me at six tomorrow at training ground three. Oh, and by the way, unless you enjoy puking, I wouldn't eat breakfast," Kakashi added cryptically.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Traitor," Sasuke said as Moro headed home. "Fight me."

"What? Didn't you learn your lesson earlier?"

"You were supposed to be weak. If I can't even beat you, how can I ever hope to beat him?" he asked.

"Sorry, I've got better things to do than fight with a pompous Uchiha brat." Sasuke fired a fire jutsu at him. It appeared to hit him, but he just kept walking. Another appeared, tripped Sasuke so that the only thing that was holding him up was Moro's hand, which clutched a kunai. "Basic ninja art, bunshin. If you are that predictable, you may as well cut your eyes out and live as a civilian, Uchiha. You're lucky I don't want the trouble." He dropped Sasuke, who fell to the ground gasping for breath. "By the way, if you see Sakura or Naruto, tell them that tomorrow will be hell if they don't eat."

A/N: For now, Moro is the strongest on the team. Sasuke's Uchiha arrogance made him feel superior, and despite his prodigy status, Moro is also a prodigy. Also, due largely to Moro's help, Naruto doesn't spend as much time mooning after Sakura, but he does currently fancy her. Next time on Of Blades and Brothers, survival training with Kakashi-sensei, fighting the Demon Brothers, and Zabuza part 1. Its also going to be the last chapter of Sakura the Useless. Any suggestions? Comments? Complaints? General constructive criticism is always welcome, but not always listened to. Finally, the NaruHina won't start until after the Wave mission.


	3. Chapter 3

I only own Moro and family. Everything else belongs to its rightful owners.

Moro was in a bad mood. His alarm clock hadn't woken him up and he was now an hour and a half late. Kakashi-sensei was going to kill him. As he scrambled, he grabbed an apple, an orange, and a breakfast bar for field missions. As he ran to training ground three, he ate the bar and the orange, pocketing the apple for later. "Sorry I'm late Kaka..." he began, only to notice a very irate Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

"YOU'RE LATE," Sakura yelled at him.

Moro cringed. "Sorry it won't happen again. No Kakashi-sensei?" he asked. Sasuke glared at him, but Naruto shook his head no. After waiting for about twenty minutes, their sensei finally decided to show up.

"YOU'RE LATE," they all yelled in unison.

"Sorry, I had to help this old lady cross the street," he said, as Sakura scolded Moro.

"Like you have any right to talk, you were late too."

"Right then, well, today we'll be doing survival training. All you four have to do is get one of these bells," Kakashi instructed, holding up three bells, "before lunch. Anyone who doesn't get a bell will get tied to one of these posts and watch as I eat their lunch," he said, holding out five bentos. "Oh, and you'll have to come at me with the intention to kill if you hope to win. Good luck, you'll need it. Also, anyone who doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." All four of the genin became visibly distressed at this revelation. Naruto and Sakura began protesting that he couldn't do that. "Look, the graduation test you took in the academy was only to see if you could become a genin. This is the real test, and it has a 66% failure rate. Now if you're done complaining, let's begin." Moro glanced at Naruto, who nodded in understanding. All four genin jumped back out of the way. "Well, they all can hide decently," Kakashi said absently, before seeing Naruto right in front of him. "You don't actually get how this works, do you?"

"I'm going to beat you right now and take a bell, that way I can become a genin, and eventually hokage, believe it," Naruto shouted. Kakashi pulled an orange book out of his hip pouch and began to read. Naruto threw a crude punch that the jonin easily blocked. Naruto, irritated, began to attack with poor form, but Kakashi dodged anything Naruto tried. "If one me won't work, how about ten of me," Naruto said confidently. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU." Nine more Narutos poofed into existence and charged Kakashi from all angles. Despite the numbers, Kakashi barely moved at all, occasionally pushing one of the clones into another to dispel them.

"Kage bunshin, huh. It'd be impressive, but even a thousand times nothing is still just nothing," Kakashi said. "Something's not right, its like he's throwing his punches," he thought to himself as all the Narutos piled on him. They punched somone out, but it turned out to be just another Naruto clone. "The first basic ninja skill, taijutsu," Kakashi announced as the clones quickly turned on themselves. "Without it, you can't possibly hope to succeed as a ninja. And, now, to finish you. SECRET JUTSU OF THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES, THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH."

Hidden somewhere in a distant bush, Sasuke watched the spar. "No way, thats a tiger seal. There's no way Kakashi would use a fire jutsu on Naruto."

Kakashi crouched behind Naruto and poked him in the ass, sending him flying off in the air.

Back in the bush, Sasuke's eye twitched. "Is that really a secret jutsu of the village?"

Off in a tree, Sakura gagged at what Kakashi did. "Great, I've got Naruto on my team with his oiroke no jutsu, and now we have a sensei that pokes people in the ass. What a perverted jutsu."

By the time Naruto got back to where he and Kakashi were fighting, Kakashi was gone. Near the base of a tree, something glimmered. Realizing that it was the bells, Naruto walked over and tried to grab them, only to get strung up by his ankle. Naruto began floundering like a fish struggling to get back in the water. Kakashi walked over. "If you fall for such obvious traps, you won't make it to hokage, you'll just die the first time you leave the village."

"Shows what the hell you know," Naruto growled, before disappearing with a loud pop.

"Kage bunshin? Thats all I've been fighting?" Kakashi thought to himself. As Kakashi stared off into space, Sasuke threw handfuls of shuriken that seemed to hit him, before he turned into a log.

"Damn, he was only pretending to be vulnerable. Now I gave my position away. Stupid, stupid, stupid," Sasuke thought to himself, running deeper into the forest.

* * *

"Well I guess its time to go check on Sakura and Moro," Kakashi thought to himself.

"He's gone..." Sakura sighed.

"Psst, Sakura, over here." She turned to face the white haired jonin, but he was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke stumbled out of the forest with many shuriken stuck in him.

"Sakura, help...me," he whispered before he passed out. Sakura screamed and fainted.

"Basic ninja skill number two, genjutsu. Hmm, I thought that with her marks she would have figured it out. Its not like that was a strong one, even," Kakashi said to himself.

* * *

Kakashi found Moro sitting in a clearing with Naruto, meditating. He lifted his hatai-ite slightly. "Those are the real ones," he thought.

"You might as well come out, Kakashi-sensei, we know that you're there," Naruto yelled out. Moro threw a shuriken in his direction that embedded itself into the tree next to him. Wrapped around the handle was a note.

"Hello, sensei. You should know better than to sneak up on someone in our state of mind. We can detect the slightest use of chakra, and your eye pulses with it. Oh, and I think I failed to mention that this note is written on the back of a modified explosive tag with a five second detonation. Have a nice day!" Kakashi read aloud. "Five seconds, but that means..." the tag in his hand started sparking. "Oh, shit." The tag exploded, and he was enveloped in a cloud of confetti, each bit with a small seal on it. Before the wind could blow most of it away, they began sparking and shot jets of water at him. He blinked, and then shook the water out of his hair.

"Its not a major ninja skill, due to its complexity and the fact that one must be really creative for it to be effective, but fuuinjutsu is one of the most important skills for a shinobi. The simplest form is the handseals that are used for jutsu, and can become as complex as the techniques used to seal bijuu," Naruto explained. "So far this is the extent of our fuuinjutsu experiments, the Kaosu kamifubuki (A/N: Chaos Confetti) no jutsu."

"Naruto did most of the work on that," Moro added from behind Kakashi. The jonin cursed, and dodged the new genin's attacks with a pair of kunai. Moro grabbed him from behind and Naruto's right hand began a downward arc, cutting two of the bells free. Moro grabbed them and they ran from their sensei.

"Hmm, so they actually managed to get the some of the bells, huh," Kakashi thought. "I wonder if they know that they're a trap. Still, that was a pretty impressive attack they used. I guess its time to go back and fight Sasuke, then," he mentally groaned. As he headed back towards Sasuke's new hiding spot, Sakura began to wake up, only to get hit by another even weaker genjutsu.

As he dashed towards Sasuke's hiding spot, Sasuke ambushed him. He noticed in time to counter the kick from underground, but it sent him flying up into the sky. Sasuke jumped up behind him and grabbed his wrists. Kakashi's eye opened wide, roughly understanding what Sasuke was about to do. At the peak of his flight, Sasuke let go of one of his arms and kicked him down hard, and then pulled him back with the other arm for another kick, elbowed him in the face, and then, right before impact, spun over him and kicked him in the stomach. Sasuke slid away from the crash sight before standing and going to retrieve a bell. When he got there, he was surprised to find two bells missing. "Moro got one, and I'm guessing that Sakura got the other. There's no way Naruto could've," he thought as he bent down to grab it. Just as he touched it, Kakashi disappeared with a pop.

"I'm impressed," Kakashi said from behind him. "That would've been it for me if I hadn't been prepared. But you know what? The nail that sticks up is the one that gets beat down."

"I'm not done yet," Sasuke yelled, and began making handseals.

"Tiger, but genin can't do fire jutsu," Kakashi thought to himself as a large fireball rushed at him.

"GOKAKYU NO JUTSU," Sasuke roared. He smirked as the fireball engulfed Kakashi, until the flames died and it was revealed to be a very burned log. "Where? Behind me? Above me?" he asked himself.

"Where you least expect me," Kakashi answered. "Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu. You may want to hurry, you have approximately fifteen minutes until noon, and Moro and Naruto already have bells. It'd be a shame if you lost to them," he mocked Sasuke before shunshin-ing away. As he struggled to free himself, Sakura woozily walked into the clearing.

"Sakura, down here," he called. She took one glance at his head, screamed, and then fainted. In the distance, th alarm sounded, indicating that they had failed. "Damn, how will I kill him if I can't even finish this stupid test," Sasuke thought.

Sakura woke up tied to one of the wooden poles. She looked next to her, expecting to see Naruto, but instead her Sasuke was tied up. "I have some news for all of you," Kakashi announced. "None of you are going back to the academy." Sakura sighed in relief and Sasuke grunted. "Instead, I've decided that you all are going to be dropped from the program," he finished.

"But, Kakashi-sensei, Moro and I each got a bell," Naruto whined.

"The bells were just a distraction. None of you understood this test, and so none of you have what it takes to be a ninja. Your individual skills may be extraordinary, but sometimes you end up facing off with an opponent who trumps you. What then? Why do you think your put on squads?"

"Teamwork," Moro answered grimly. "We weren't supposed to be able to beat you, so you tried to force us all to work together."

"Exactly. Sasuke tried to do it all by himself, but couldn't distract me. Sakura got caught in a trap that preyed on one of her weaknesses. Had they been working together, Sakura would've known that Sasuke wasn't hurt since he was right next to her, and Sasuke would have had someone else to distract me long enough for him to reach the bells."

"But what about us, Kakashi-sensei, we worked together," Naruto complained.

"Yes, but you and Moro are childhood friends, and therefore chose to ignore the rest of your team. For instance, one of you gets caught along with Sasuke. Now the other has to make an impossible decision, do you save your friend, or do you save the other? Things like that happen all the time in missions. I'll let you try once more after lunch, but you'll only have an hour, and it'll be much harder. Oh, and Sasuke and Sakura don't get any food since they couldn't get a bell," he added.

Moro reached behind him and pulled out a kunai, throwing it at the post Sasuke was tied to. It cut the ropes and Sasuke fell off. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he mumbled. "Catch." He threw his bell to Sasuke, who looked shocked, but caught it nonetheless. Naruto grumbled, but cut Sakura free and did the same.

"I'm impressed," Kakashi said. "You'd give up your meal so that your teammates can eat instead? You realize that this means I have to tie you up instead, right?" When they nodded, Kakashi eye-smiled at them. "You all pass," he exclaimed.

"Nani?" Naruto asked.

"Those who break rules are scum, as you were taught in the academy, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum. Even though you didn't have to, you were willing to give everything up to protect your teammates. That is exactly the type of behavior that teams need in order to survive on dangerous missions. We'll meet back here tomorrow for Team 7's first mission," he ordered before walking off.

"You know, I hate to say it, but he's kinda cool," Sakura admitted.

"Kakashi-sensei is awesome," Naruto exclaimed. "I wonder what kind of cool stuff he can teach us." Sasuke gave his traditional grunt and Moro just shook his head.

Much to everyone's dismay, Kakashi had yet to teach them anything. Instead, they spent the day doing D-rank missions, to everyone's chagrin. Their current mission was to catch the Daimyo's wife's cat, Tora, also known among genin teams as the cat from hell. Luckily for team 7, the cat adored Moro and Sakura and would happily hop into Moro's arms. After identifying that they had the right cat, they returned to the Hokage's Tower to report their success.

"Now, for your next mission, we have babysitting, painting a fence, weeding an old lady's garden, or cleaning a nearby pond," Hokage announced as Tora was crushed by the daimyo's wife as she left.

"No, no more of these kiddie missions, hokage-jiji," Naruto complained. "Give us a real mission."

"Naruto, you don't seem to understand how it works," Iruka sighed. "At first, genin teams do D-rank missions to build teamwork, and only when their sensei and we decide their ready, do they get a C-rank."

"But we're the elite genin team 7," Naruto whined. "Our sensei is Hatake Kakashi, who is said to be the strongest of all the jonin, Uchiha Sasuke, rookie of the year and last of the mighty Uchiha clan, Haruno Sakura, the brightest of all the new genin, Nodachi Moro, who fights on par with Sasuke and matches my stamina, and most of all, ME, Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's Orange Devil, the terror of the village." Moro and the Sandaime snorted, Sakura smacked Naruto in the head, Sasuke gave his trademark grunt, and Kakashi read his book.

"Don't be so rude," Sakura and Iruka yelled.

"I think my team is more than ready for a C-rank, Hokage-sama," Kakashi announced surprising all present. "Naruto is, strangely enough, right for once."

"I don't," Iruka objected. "I taught all of these children and know what they are capable of."

"You can't protect Naruto forever, Iruka," Kakashi interrupted. "Naruto and Moro are much stronger than you give them credit for. Name two more genin that can use elemental chakra."

"Fine. There's Sasuke," he began, " and, um, hmm, lets see."

"There aren't two more," Kakashi finished.

"Kakashi's right," the Hokage sighed. "I don't like it either, but this team is more than ready for their first C-rank mission." He paused to fill his pipe. Naruto was dancing with joy, Sakura was overjoyed to stop doing the chores, and Sasuke even smirked. To his dismay, Moro pulled out a camera and took a picture of it.

"WE'VE GOT PROOF THAT SASUKE CAN SMILE, NARUTO!" he yelled.

Iruka yelled for everyone to shut up. "Come on in, Tazuna," Hokage called, and an old drunk entered the office. "This is Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and it's your duty to escort him to the Land of Waves and protect him as he finishes the bridge there."

"These brats are supposed to protect me? Give me a break, they all look super weak, especially Shorty there," he sneered.

When Naruto realized that he was the shortest of them, he threw a fit. "I'll show you weak. I'm gonna be Hokage one day, believe it. FUUTON: RENKUDAN!" he yelled, shooting a small blast of wind into Tazuna's sake bottle.

"YOU BRAT," Tazuna yelled. "THAT WAS MY LAST BOTTLE."

"Don't attack the clients, Naruto," Moro chided him.

"Alright then, we meet at the gates tomorrow at noon, don't be late," Kakashi announced before shunshin-ing away. Everyone else sweatdropped except Tazuna.

Surprisingly, Kakashi was only half an hour late, and he actually beat Tazuna. He eyed the sword straped to Moro's back, with the sheath and handle wrapped in cloth, but didn't say anything. When the old man finally arrived, he led them out of the village. After walking for about an hour, Kakashi paused for a second. Moro glanced down, and then pulled out a kunai and began spinning it on his finger. It flew off and landed in a nearby puddle. "MORO YOU IDIOT," Sakura reprimanded him. "YOU COULD'VE HURT SOMEONE." She punched him in the head and he fell to the ground. Suddenly, two ninjas appeared, one with a sliced cheek, and wrapped Kakashi in a shuriken chain. They pulled, and Kakashi was ripped to pieces.

"You're next, Pinkie, one of them called out as they ran at Sakura, who was standing in front of Tazuna with a kunai out, but was frozen stiff from their attack on Kakashi. Moro swore and threw a kunai, pinning the chain to a tree, but they detached it and continued to charge her. Sasuke kneed one high into the sky and then jumped up after him and performing his Lion's Barrage. Naruto leapt in front of the second assasin to stop him from stabbing Sakura with his gauntlet, one of the poison blades piercing his hand. He punched the second brother back and started punching him in the face.

Meanwhile, quickly ran through some handsigns. "FUUTON: FUUMAKEN," he roared, enraged by the sight of his friends blood. The wind blast hit the ninja and sent him flying into a tree with cuts that didn't bleed all over his body. "I can't believe it," he said quietly, "Kakashi-sensei." All four genin looked back to where their sensei was, only to find a sliced up log.

"Damn, how did you know we were there?" one of the assasins asked.

"Konohamaru's square rock would have hidden you better than a puddle when it hasn't rained here for days. When we saw it, we knew."

"And the shuriken?"

"It was my warning that if you try, you'd lose," Moro answered coldly. "I didn't even have to draw my sword."

"Sorry about that, but I wanted to see who they were after, and you handled the problem pretty well alone," Kakashi called down from a tree branch, holding his orange book in his other hand. "We need to talk, Tazuna," he added. "But first, I need to take care of my genin's injuries, seeing as those claws were poisoned."

"I'll handle it," Naruto announced, pulling out a kunai and cutting the wound open to drain the poison.

"Right then, you lied to us, Tazuna. You told the village you needed protection against bandits. Had we known we would have been up against ninja, it would've been at least a B-rank mission. So tell us, why are they after you?" Kakashi interrogated the old man, leaking just a tiny bit of killer intent.

Tazuna gulped. "R-right then. My country is poor. We couldn't afford more than a C-rank mission, but if I can finish the bridge, we won't be dependant upon Gatou anymore."

"Gatou, as in, Gatou Shipping Company?" Kakashi asked. Tazuna nodded his head. "Unfortunately, we're in way over our heads, and Naruto is injured. We need to head back to the village."

Naruto looked livid. "No, we can do this. My hand is fine, I say we press on," he insisted. "We're ninja, we live in a world where sometimes missions get ugly, but that doesn't mean we can back down, and I never give up, because thats my ninja way." The others nodded their agreement, and so Kakashi sighed, but agreed to continue on.

They found a man waiting for them with a small boat to take them to Wave Country through the thick mist. After they disembarked, they followed a path with mist randomly floating in and out. Kakashi had a bad feeling about something, but he couldn't place it. It was as if they were being followed, but he couldn't detect any chakra usage in the area. Too late, he heard the air being sliced. "GET DOWN," he shouted, pulling Tazuna down with him. Unfortunately, his genin didn't seem to react fast enough, and Kakashi knew that soon he would have new nightmares. He closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable spray of blood, but it never came. Instead, he heard the unique ring of chakra conducting steel against crystal.

Moro had drawn his sword and blocked the immense blade. "Impressive, for a brat playing shinobi," a ninja said as he landed on the blade that was now sticking out of the ground. "Nice sword you got there kid. How about you hand it and the bridge builder over, and I'll kill you and your friends before you even realize it?"

"Sorry, family heirloom," Moro replied."Besides, you've got a pretty nice sword yourself, Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, wielder of the Executioner's Blade."

"Know me, do you, Chiarashi?" he pondered. "Oh, yes, I recognized that blade, having been run through on one of its counterparts before."

"Moro, stand back, he's out of your league," Kakashi announced. "Even I would have trouble without this." he lifted his hatai-ite to reveal the sharingan beneath it. Sasuke visibly tensed upon seeing that eye.

"Sharingan Kakashi, I'm honored to see that eye this early in our fight," Zabuza laughed. "This job just got fun. Kirigakure no jutsu." Mist formed all around them and Zabuza vanished into it. "Eight points, but where to strike," his voice rang out from the mist.

Sasuke was shaking from the release of killer intent from the clash of wills. He slowly brought a kunai up to his eye and prepared to stab himself. Kakashi looked back and eye-smiled. "Relax, Sasuke. I won't allow my comrades to die in battle," he announced. Sasuke calmed down, but Naruto and Sakura were still visibly shaking.

Moro was the only one of the genin wholly unaffected. "Naruto, why are you shaking, we've faced more killer intent from the mobs than this," he reminded the blonde.

"Hey, your right, this guy isn't that scary at all," Naruto announced, giving Sakura some confidence as well.

"Your all so calm," Zabuza said nonchalantly. "Lets see how you fare after I kill a couple of you," he said, appearing in the middle of their formation around Tazuna. He began to swing his sword, but was intercepted by a kick from Moro. He collapsed into a puddle of water, and appeared behind Kakashi. "It's over," he shouted as he cut Kakashi in half. "What the," he said, shocked as it was a water clone.

"No, now its over," Kakashi announced, pressing a kunai up against his throat. He stabbed it, but it leaked water. Too late, he turned to get kicked into the lagoon nearby.

"Suiro no jutsu," Zabuza announced as water gathered around his hand, trapping Kakashi in. A pair of mizu bunshin rose out of the lagoon and advanced on the genin and Tazuna.

"Run, the fight ended when I got captured," Kakashi ordered, but his genin stood their ground. "His clones have to stay close to him, and he can't move his arm or I'll be freed. Get Tazuna out of here."

Naruto grinned. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but its like you said. Those that abandon their comrades are worse than scum. We can take this guy." He ran at one of the clones, who yanked Naruto's hatai-ite off and kicked him back.

"Please, you don't deserve to call yourselves ninja. By your age, I had killed hundreds of people. You see, in Kiri, the graduating test for aspiring genin was to kill one of the others."

"Blood mist village," Kakashi spat.

"So you knew me too, Kakashi, I'm touched. I slaughtered my entire graduating class, and all the teachers. And, it was so much fun," he explained, laughing maniacally.

Sasuke charged the missing nin, but despite his skill, was easily beat down. Naruto charged back in and grabbed his headband from under Zabuza's foot. "Remember this, you eyebrow-less freak," Naruto announced. "The ninja who will become the Hokage of Konohakagure never backs down." He nodded to Moro, who grinned and put his hand on his sword and grinned, and then to Sasuke who smirked, before making the ram seal and creating about thirty kage bunshin, who rushed one water clone, while Moro ran at the other and began a kenjutsu match with it.

_Moro vs clone 2_

They danced around, matching each other blow for blow, with neither able to hit the other. "Pretty good for a kid from Konoha, but you are a Chiarashi, after all, so its to be expected. They're said to be a decent match for the Ninja Swordsmen in kenjutsu," the clone said. "But I have the advantage of size, strength, and stamina." The massive sword beat down on the smaller crystal blade, but Moro held his ground, and began to push back.

"Your right, you do have advantages there, but I'm faster, and I'm more cunning," Moro replied through gritted teeth. "Damn, seems like I'll have to use that to win," he thought to himself. "I'm going to end this with my next attack," he declared, and Zabuza scoffed. Moro disengaged from their clash, jumping back and pulling his sheath off of his back.

"Batoujutsu?" Zabuza thought with a chuckle. "Its a good plan, but you'd have to be fast enough to hit me," he informed Moro as he charged in. Moro smirked as the clone began swinging so that Moro couldn't hit him.

"Batoujutsu: FUUMAKEN," he announced, drawing the ninjato from his side and releasing a torrent of air that sliced through the clone. He panted before falling down to his knees, exhausted. "Damn, used up too much chakra with that last attack," he muttered, using his now sheathed sword to stand up.

_Naruto and Sasuke vs clone 1_

The clones all leapt on the first clone, but were all pushed back. "I'm not giving up, I still have this," he said. "Sasuke, catch," he ordered as he reached in his pack and pulled out a giant shuriken that folded up and threw it to Sasuke, who leapt up to catch it.

"I get it, now. Good thinking Naruto. Demon Wing Shuriken," he said, as if it were an explanation, before throwing the weapon.

"A shuriken? You'll never hit me with that," Zabuza responded confidently. However, the shuriken went no where near the clone, instead heading towards where the real Zabuza was holding Kakashi. Despite his inability to move, he smiled before catching the large projectile. In the shadows, a second shuriken flew toward's Zabuza's chest, but as it approached, the assasin jumped over it and let it fly past him.

"Like I said, you'll never hit me with a shuriken," he smirked as his clone began to advance on them. Behind the real Zabuza, the second shuriken poofed into Naruto who threw a kunai at the back of Zabuza's chest, too high for him to jump over. He was forced to duck to avoid getting stabbed through the heart, and Kakashi was freed from his prison. Zabuza scowled, and swung the now folded shuriken at Naruto, but Kakashi blocked it with his plated glove.

"I won't be caught by the same trick twice," Kakashi said, cold as ice. Zabuza cursed, and began to go through a complex series of hand seals that Kakashi copied perfectly. " Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu," the cried out together, and two twin dragons crashed into each other and negated each other out.

"Your nothing but a monkey, mimicking my every move," Zabuza insulted Kakashi, as he began a new set of seals that Kakashi mimicked just as fast. Behind Kakashi, a shadow of Zabuza could be seen, and Zabuza paused.

"Daibakufu no jutsu," Kakashi announced, creating a vortex of water that blasted Zabuza and pinned him against a tree.

"How? Does that eye let you see the future?" the barely conscious Zabuza asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi answered. "It tells me that you are about to die." Just then, a dozen senbon were thrown into him, and he died.

"Thanks for your assistance, it would have been difficult to take him down alone," the attacker said from a tree. "I'll handle him from here."

"I see," Kakashi said. "You must be a hunter-nin from Kiri, am I right?"

"Yeah, we've been tracking Momochi Zabuza for quite some time," the ninja explained before vanishing with the body.

A/N: Sorry, i've been a little busy lately with work and school, but here you go. Just a little over 5000 words. Next time will be through the end of the wave arc, and possibly the beginning of the chuunin exams. Reviews are always appreciated, even flames. I gotta get laughs from somewhere.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto and the original characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. If it wasn't in the anime or manga, its mine.

Kakashi woke up in Tazuna's home, hurting all over. He hadn't felt like this since the morning after that failed mission. He groaned. "Finally awake, huh?" Moro asked. "You've been out for two days now."

"Damn, that long," Kakashi thought to himself. "What's the mission status?" he asked seriously.

"So far, we haven't had too many complications. We've been accompanying Tazuna to the bridge and doing what we can to help. At this rate, we should finish before the estimated mission are we going to do about Zabuza? Something didn't seem right about how he lost," Moro replied, businesslike.

"You noticed it too? Have you said anything to the others yet?" Kakashi asked.

"No. Naruto is too optimistic, and Sasuke and I aren't exactly on good terms right now, though we won't let it compromise our mission," he answered.

"Your fight after that first day?" Kakashi guessed. "I saw," he explained. "Sasuke's out for blood because of it too."

"I'll deal with that when the time comes. We need to prepare for Zabuza's return though."

"Go get the others," Kakashi sighed. "I have something in mind." Moro nodded and went to get the other three. "I have some bad news. Zabuza is still alive," he announced. "When he recovers, he is going to attack again, if not for Tazuna, for his pride. I need you four to be ready to help out in any way possible, so I have something to teach you. Follow me," he instructed, ignoring Naruto and Sakura's protests that Zabuza was dead, and grabbed a crutch that had been brought for his use when he woke up.

Kakashi led them into the forest and began to explain. "I'm want you to climb trees," he said simply.

"We can all climb trees, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto stated. "How is that going to help?"

"True, I have no doubt that you can climb trees normally, but I want you to climb them without your hands." He hobbled over to the nearest tree and began to walk up it. "You gather the chakra into the bottom of your feet and then use it to hold your feet to the tree. You may want to get a bit of a running start, and use these to mark your progress," he instructed, throwing a kunai to each of them.

They each grabbed their respective kunai and built up the chakra in their feet. Sasuke managed to get about ten feet up before being pushed off. Naruto got about seven feet up before where he was exploded, showering the area with splinters.

"Hey, this is easy," Sakura called down from the highest branch that could hold her weight. Sasuke cursed and ran at his tree again, managing to get marginally higher. Moro yawned, laying down on the underside of a tree branch.

"Hmm, seems like the only girl has the best natural chakra control," Kakashi goaded Sasuke and Naruto.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Moro asked, feigning outrage. "Nah, I've already done this exercise, and water walking, for that matter. Hey, Naruto, how many shadow clones can you make?"

"Umm, around a thousand, I think, I haven't tried to go all out recently," the blonde answered. "Why, what do you need?"

Kakashi facepalmed. "Around a thousand? Last time he checked? He's only known the jutsu for about two weeks. But then again, he did just blow a hole the size of my head in a tree."

The brunette ninja pulled out a scroll and unsealed two boken, throwing one to Naruto. "Can you make me a few hundred so we can spar while you work on this?" Moro answered nonchalantly. Naruto grinned and made the familiar ram seal. Around them the forest blurred and filled with smoke as seven hundred and fifty copies of Naruto phased into existence. One that was particularly close to where Sakura was standing asked her out, prompting her to quickly punch it in the face.

Moro nodded at his friend. "Thanks. Alright, would the seven hundred and forty nine clones follow me so that the others can practice their tree climbing please," Moro shouted, and the clone horde followed him, althoush some were reluctant.

Moro led the clones to a clearing. "Alright, I want you all to come at me, no holding back," he instructed. The clones were hesitant at first, only one or two advancing. With two quick blows they were dispersed, and the other clones grew more bold and began charging in groups. Although Moro dealt most of the punishment, he was not untouched. Some of the clones managed to land solid blows on him, but he pressed on.

Unseen, two people watched Moro's brutal sparring match. The first was Kakashi. "He's absolutely brutal in his training. I hope Gai never finds him doing something like this, or else he'll try to recruit him," he shuddered with the thought of his student in the green spandex suit.

The other ninja watching Moro was the fake hunter nin from Kiri. "Either the boy is really skilled, or really stupid and overconfident to try to fight that many kage bunshin. Even Zabuza would have trouble taking on so many," the fake pondered. Yet as he watched, Moro continually repulsed and dispersed any of the Naruto's that attacked him. If any clone struck the boy, the favor would be returned three fold. Not to say that he was vengful, but the amount of force and the location of the strikes were more severe. Angered, a large group of about fifty clones jumped up and thrusted their boken at Moro, like they had tried against Zabuza. "Surely, despite his skill with the sword, he couldn't best that many clones. Zabuza didn't even have that many jump him." The clones were violently repulsed, to the watchers' surprise. One of the Naruto's was visibly more tired than the rest. With a loud pop, he transformed into the brunette, who fell to his knees from exhaustion.

"Fuu-bunshin?" Kakashi frowned. "Thats an upper A-class jutsu, even higher than my rai-bunshin." Despite his obvious lack of chakra, Moro stood as the last few clones rushed him. With just the minimal effort, he raised his blade so that it struck the charging clones through weak points in their defenses, using their own momentum to beat them. As the last clone dispersed, Moro laughed weakly and blacked out from minor chakra exhaustion.

_Back with Naruto_

Since he had made the clones for Moro, the tree no longer exploded with holes in it. Strangely, it seemed easier for him to climb now as well. He was getting about as high as Sasuke now. And then it happened. As he ran up the tree, the memories of a good number of clones being dispersed violently at once caused an overload of information, and he passed out. "Baka," Sasuke muttered as Naruto stopped mid ascent and fell, hitting his head on the way down.

Sakura went to check on the unconscious blond. "Sasuke, what should we do?" she asked. "Should we wake him, or just leave him?"

Sasuke grunted. "Leave him for now."

As they were leaving, Sasuke kicked Naruto in the ribs. "Wake up, dobe, its time to go back," he ordered.

Naruto sat up slowly. "Huh? What happened? Last thing I remembered, it felt like I had just been smacked really hard in the head with a boken, and then nothing," Naruto murmured. "WHAT? ITS NIGHT ALREADY? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME?" he yelled. "OH MAN I'VE GOTTA CATCH UP NOW," he roared with a glance at where his marks stopped, and how much higher Sasuke's went. "KUSO!" he cursed. Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped, but left him training in the forest. Realizing that he had gained the memories from the clones that had been training with Moro, he grinned before making a single hand sign. Five more Naruto's popped into existence, and all of them ran at different trees. They each got to varying heights, but none perfected the tree climbing technique.

Naruto never would have noticed, but from a distance he was being watched. Eyes peered out from behind a hunter's mask, watching until the moon, which had just risen when Naruto began, had began its descent. Even then, the watcher only left because Naruto had passed out from exhaustion. With a giggle, the watcher went to report their findings.

As Moro woke, he noticed two things. The first was the fact that it felt like Sakura had used him as a punching bag for her ungodly strength, and the second the early morning sun that shined in his eyes painfully. He didn't move at first, only groaning in agony. After a few minutes, he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Why did I ask for so many?" he thought to himself, nursing his bruised body. Eventually, he forced himself to stand and headed back to where the others had trained the day before.

Moro found Naruto passed out in the clearing, surrounded by six trees with slash marks on them, with one other further away. All six had lines about one and a half times larger than the further tree. He shambled over to Naruto and grinned sadistically.

With his less injured arm, he began rummaging through his pockets, looking for something to prank his friend with. Fortunately, he had everything he would need: a large permanent marker, an explosive tag, three sealing scrolls, one with fruit, one with cup ramen for Naruto, and one with various odds and ends that weren't useful, some blank scrolls and a brush and ink. His eyes sparkled as he got a devious idea and began drawing on the scroll and infusing it with chakra. Normally, he had Naruto make their confetti tags, but he could make them, although it wasn't as powerful as Naruto's. He finished, and began setting up his trap, starting with several ink balls taken from Naruto's pocket sealed in the confetti tag, set to detonate when he moved, and rigging a ramen cup to explode.

"I hope this works," he thought to himself as he put his hands together and built up a very small amount of chakra. "Genjutsu: Zetsubo," he whispered. He uncapped the marker and began to doodle all over Naruto's face, waking him from his sleep. Naruto quickly forced himself into a sitting position, causing him to get drenched in ink. As he wiped it out of his eyes, he heard the telltale hiss of another tag, opening them to see one of his beloved ramen cups blown to pieces, spraying him with explosive cooked instant ramen, in much less than the standard three minutes needed to cook it.

Naruto bolted upright to see the cup ramen still intact. Believing that he was still trapped in a genjutsu, Naruto put his hands together. "KAI! KAI! KAI!" he shouted futilely, ignoring the paint that sprayed him as his precious cup ramen exploded.

"Sorry Naruto, but this time it was for real," Moro laughed. Naruto screamed and ran at him with a kunai drawn. He as he was about to begin viciously attacking his friend, a giggle distracted him. He turned to see a girl in a flowery pink kimono standing next to a tree. His jaw dropped.

She giggled again. "Would you mind helping me, I'm looking for some herbs for my mother," she lied. "That was really funny," she told Moro, who had the point of a kunai pressed against his chest. Naruto mumbled something incohesive, which made her giggle more.

"We'd be glad to help you, Miss, what did you say you're name is? I'm Moro, and the baka here is Naruto." Moro answered for him.

"You will, wonderful," she cried with mock excitement, making Moro's eyes narrow. "I'm Haku," she added. As they walked around the forest, she talked to them, occasionally stopping to pick a few plants. When Naruto told her that he would one day be Hokage, she asked him if he had any precious people.

"Precious people?" he thought aloud. "Well, there's Iruka-sensei, oji-san hokage, Kakashi-sensei, Moro-kun, Sakura-chan, and the teme," he began. "So yeah, I guess I have precious people."

"Good," she informed him. "Its when you have precious people that you become truly powerful." After awhile, she said goodbye, saying that her mother was waiting and it would be rude to keep her waiting.

After she was gone, Naruto looked at Moro. "She was pretty than Sakura was," he announced.

"What, finally over your little crush?" Moro teased, making Naruto hit him in the arm. "Hey, why don't you head back to the bridgebuilder's house, I forgot something, and will be right behind you."

"Right, I'll see you later, ass," Naruto replied offhandedly before heading back towards the village.

"Show yourself, hunter-nin, or, would you prefer, Haku?" he asked to no one. "I know your there, watching for Zabuza, so don't try to hide," he called out.

"So you knew?" she answered. "I'm impressed. What now? Will you attack me?" she asked, her voice impassive and cold.

"No," he answered. "To what point and purpose? You don't know my abilities, and I don't know yours, but I do know that you are extremely skilled. But if we meet again, we may be forced to fight," he answered truthfully. "So the choice is yours? Do we do battle, will this forest be the final resting place for one of us?"

"I don't want to hurt any of you, but if you get in Zabuza-sama's way, I won't hesitate to kill all of you," she responded. "Besides, your injured, it wouldn't be fair. Which reminds me, catch." she threw him a small jar. "For your bruises, and your kindness earlier.

He nodded his gratitude. "Good day to you then, Miss Haku, and may we never have to meet on the battlefield," Moro said, bending down. He picked a few flowers from the base of a tree and threw them at the beatiful girl. They embedded themselves in her hair ornately, but she didn't even notice at first. She pulled one out and gazed at it, but when she looked back at Moro he was gone.

"What an interesting pair, they're so similar, yet so different," she thought to herself. "Who are you, Moro?" she thought with a slight blush, looking once more at the flower in her hand before returning it to her hair.

Moro hung off the side of the bridge doing pull-ups. Kakashi had asked him and Sakura to watch over the bridge and the bridgebuilder while Naruto and Sasuke mastered the tree climbing. He had offered to help the workers, but they had looked at him strange and politely declined. "Can I talk to you?" Sakura asked.

Moro launched himself up over Sakura, did a flip and landed on the bridge. "Sure, what do you need?" he replied.

"Um, I realize that we don't really get along, but I didn't know who else to talk to. Naruto would take it the wrong way, and Sasuke would scoff at me, and Kakashi needs to heal, but I wanna get stronger too. When Kakashi-sensei was captured by Zabuza, you three threw everything you had at him to free him, but I couldn't," she paused. "I couldn't do anything to help. I was froze by his killer intent, just like Tazuna-san." Moro nodded along with her.

"I see," he responded. "Let me see if I have anything that you can do," he said as he started going through his pack. "Ah, perfect," he exclaimed, pulling out two sheets of paper.

"I don't get it," she said confused. "How is a piece of paper supposed to help me get stronger."

"This isn't ordinary paper, this is a special paper that when you channel chakra into, it reveals you chakra nature. Watch," he explained, pouring a little bit of chakra into the paper. Sakura gasped as it split in two. "Wind cuts the paper, lightning folds it, water it gets wet, fire it burns, and earth it desinegrates. Now you try," he handed her the other piece of paper. After a moment, the paper turned to dust. "Sorry, I can't help you," he sighed. "I don't know anything about earth chakra. My nature is wind and water, and Naruto is the same. If you had either of those I could have taught the the nature manipulation. Maybe ask Kakashi-sensei later, he might know," Moro cut her off when she went to protest. He leapt back over the edge and began again with his pull ups, this time with only one hand. "One, two, three, four, ..." he began.

Over the past three days, nothing eventful had happened. Sasuke and Naruto were still working on the tree climbing, Kakashi did actually know earth manipulation and told Sakura what to do, and no one so far had threatened the bridgebuilders, though some had left. Moro was sparring with Naruto's clones every other day, using Haku's ointment to soothe the bruises. He had done all of his physical exercise for the day and was looking for something else to work on. At the wave end of the bridge, two men were cutting wood for further down. Moro smirked, having an idea. He interrupted them as they laid the next log to get cut. "I'll do this one," he told them. They looked at him weird but stepped aside. He put one hand on each side of the log and began to build up chakra when two thugs decided to ruin his mood. "Leave," he ordered them, "or I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Heh, like you could," one replied. "Besides, we just wanted to check the progress on the bridge."

"Yeah, its a free country," the second remarked. "Well, no its more of Gatou's country, but we work for him."

Moro let off a little killer intent and then sliced through the log with wind chakra. The first thug's jaw dropped, and the second fainted. He punched the first off of the bridge into the river, and then grabbed the second one and sent him after his friend. The workers gaped in awe, and began bringing him all sorts of things to slice, most that were definitely not materials for the bridge, like the fish that one man had asked him to filet. Nonetheless, Moro didn't complain, it was good practice on control.

As Kakashi, Moro, Sakura, and Tazuna and family sat down to eat, Sasuke and Naruto stumbled in, holding each other up. "We both made it, all the way to the top," Naruto panted. They collapsed next to the table and began devouring any food in sight, to the point that Tsunami and Sakura actually got up and left the table.

Kakashi sweatdropped, "While its true that they need to eat to replenish their chakra, it won't help if they just throw it up again," he thought to himself. Moro just ignored them and continued to eat.

"WHY? WHY DO YOU TRY SO HARD?" Tazuna's grandson, Inari shouted. "Gatou is just going to kill you, like he kills everyone else that stands in his way," he whined, running out of the dining room.

"I'm sorry, he's been like that since his father died," Tsunami explained.

"What, how?" Naruto asked. Sakura punched him in the head for being tactless.

"Its alright, Sakura-san," Tsunami said.

"Gatou," Tazuna spat. "Kaiza, the town, and Inari's, hero, stood up to him, because it was the right thing to do. Gatou's men killed him, in front of everyone. Since then, Inari has been cynical. His spirit, as well as the spirit of this country has been broken. I'd give almost anything to see him happy again." Naruto looked pensive as he ate after hearing the story.

"Shouldn't you be guarding the bridge?" Tsunami asked Naruto.

\ "Nah, Kakashi-sensei gave me the day off, something about me using up too much chakra lately," Naruto shrugged. "I'm gonna go take a walk." As he reached the far end of the street, there was a blood-curdling shriek. "Crap, that was from Tazuna's house," he sighed as he formed his most frequently used hand seal and ran back to the house along with three clones.

"We only need one hostage, kill the boy," the first thug said, with a lump the size of an egg in the center of his head. "That way we can have some fun with this bitch when we're done with her."

"If you harm a hair on his head, I'll bite my tongue off and bleed to death, then you won't have your hostage," she cried. The thug holding her from behind suddenly went limp.

"Like hell you will, Tsunami-chan," Naruto said cheerfully. "Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage to the rescue," he announced himself, the real one pulling the thug off Tsunami as the clones pummeled the second thug holding Inari. Looking at the wailing Inari, he said, "Look kid, you can't cry everytime you're afraid. Sometimes, despite how horrible things are, you have to hold your head held high and do everything you can to change it." Inari sniffled, but stopped crying. "Oh no, if they came after you, then, Oji-san Tazuna," Naruto swore, running out the door.

Moro put his hand on Masayoshi, ready to draw in an instant, when he saw the mist roll in. "Welcome back from the dead, Zabuza," he announced boldly. Sasuke visibly tensed as he prepared for an attack from any direction and moved to protect Tazuna with Sakura.

"Heh, smart, kid," the mist's demon answered from behind him. "But what now?" he asked, beginning the lethal arc with his greatsword. Moro parried it before spinning a kunai out and stabbed Zabuza, who turned into a puddle.

"Haven't you got any other tricks?" Moro goaded him. "Because that one's getting old."

"Stay back, Moro, I'll handle him," Kakashi instructed. "Protect Tazuna, and watch out for the "hunter nin"."

"He's already here watching," Sasuke stated, starting to shake with anticipation. The hunter joined Zabuza, the element of surprise ruined.

"Oh, look, the brat is scared," Zabuza sneered.

"You wish," Sasuke retorted. "I'm just excited," he finished before charging the hunter nin.

"Wait, come back," Moro called out, futilely. "She's too strong to fight one on one, Sasuke."

"Maybe for you, loser," Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke-kun is soo cool," Sakura whispered, watching as Sasuke attacked the hunter, who dodged and threw a handful of senbon at him. Everyone watched the exchange. Haku began making a series of hand signs, ending on a one handed seal that none of the konoha nin recognized.

"What sort of hand sign is that?" Kakashi asked.

"Haku is special, thats the reason why I keep her with me. You see, she has a kekkai genkai that allows her to use ice jutsu," Zabuza explained. "As it is, she's probably stronger than me, though we've never fought." The girl used a jutsu that created a bunch of ice spikes where Sasuke had been standing. Kakashi moved to aid Sasuke, but Zabuza intercepted him. "I don't think so, Sharingan Kakashi. Your fight is with me." Haku used a jutsu that created a bunch of mirrors around Sasuke. She flitted from mirror to mirror, throwing senbon at Sasuke, who couldn't dodge and block all of them. "Heh, if she's using that, its over for him. Now, allow me to explain how I'm going to kill you, you monkey. Kirigakure no jutsu," he said, and mist too thick to see through flooded the area. "Your sharingan allows you to do two things. The first is to mimic my moves at lightning fast speeds. Then, it allows you to cast a slight genjutsu to confuse and scare your opponent, but in order to do so, you have to have to have eye contact. So, in this mist, your eye is useless," he explained before appearing behind Kakashi and slashing at him.

"It was a good plan, but I'm not considered one of Konoha's best ninjas just because I happen to have a Sharingan eye," Kakashi countered as Zabuza cut through a water clone, kicking him high into the sky.

"Heh, I actually accounted for that, and modified the Kirigakure no jutsu just in case. Kiri no Kusari no jutsu," Zabuza stated. With a sickening thud, Kakashi slammed into the bridge. "I realized that you were probably stronger than me, and you said the same trick wouldn't work twice, so I made a new one," he explained.

"I can't see a thing, just like before," Sakura whispered. "What's going on?"

"Sasuke is trapped by the hunter nin, and Kakashi sensei has gotten himself captured, again," Moro sighed. "Sakura, with Naruto gone, its up to you and me."

"I'll go save Sasuke-kun," she began, but Moro interrupted her.

"We're all dead if we don't save Kakashi-sensei first, and Zabuza isn't about to let us do that," Moro began. "We're going to have to work together. If you heat the bonds on Kakashi-sensei, the mist should disperse and free him. Do you know the hand signs for the basic fire jutsu they teach in the academy? The one for warming yourself up on cold missions?" he asked.

Sakura, realizing that he was right, grimaced at the idea of leaving Sasuke trapped. "Yeah, its tora, hitsuji, tora," she answered.

"Alright, now here's the tricky part," he began, but was interrupted by Zabuza creating a large number of mizu bunshins and sending them to attack him. "Not this time, No-Brows," Moro said, dispatching all of the clones with a single slash of Masayoshi.

In the distance, Naruto announced his arrival. "What the hell, whats with that kid?" Zabuza asked.

"Who Naruto? He's unpredictable, you never know what he'll do next. He's Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja, the future Orange Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto," Moro answered with a grin, before turning back to Sakura. "Which reminds me, Sakura, catch," he threw a scroll to her. "If we make it out of this alive, give that to Naruto for me, and make him complete his end of the bet."

"Sakura, do you know integration based calculus?" he asked as Zabuza attacked from the mist. Steel clashed on stone as Moro blocked the slash. "As a ninja swordsman, I also know the silent killing technique." Zabuza cursed as he disappeared into the mist once more, only to be attacked by Moro. "You need to rotate the thickness of the band around Kakashi-sensei's neck," he began.

"What? I don't know how to do that," Sakura whined.

Moro swore. "Alright, I'll do it. Be ready to act on an istant's notice," he ordered, to which Sakura aknowledged. Around the bridge, Moro and Zabuza clashed as the assassin attempted to reach his target.

"Like hell I'll let you free Kakashi," Zabuza said through gritted teeth. "Suiryudan no jutsu." The jutsu shot out towards Sakura. Moro swore and threw Sakura out of the way, taking the blast head on.

"I got it, Sakura-chan," Moro panted. "To break Zabuza's jutsu, you need to apply 2905.526 kj of heat to burn the mist off. Too much and you could hurt Kakashi, and too little won't break the hold."

"Like I said, I can't let you free your sensei again," Zabuza sneered. " Daibakufu no jutsu," he announced, sending the wave of water crashing into Moro, who barely could stand.

"In order," Moro panted, using his sword to hold himself up. "To protect, the people I care for, I cannot, LOSE TO YOU!" Moro shouted, the sky above arcing with lightning and roaring with thunder.

Zabuza grimaced. "His kekkai genkai is awakening. At the rate this is going, I have to finish this now, otherwise I won't be able to keep up," Zabuza thought. "You know, this blade of mine, the greatsword Kubikiri houchō, has two special abilities. First, should it be damaged, it can repair itself using the iron in the blood of those it kills. Second, it can cut through people easier than it can cut through butter, believe me, I've tried. Although, it did cut through the next person even easier," he rambled. The missing nin charged the Moro, only to get blasted back by the lightning dancing around him. With two red flashes, the lightning struck Moro, cutting into his face, and blood splattered the bridge. Panicking, Zabuza rushed at Sakura, Tazuna and Kakashi, intending to finish his mission and retreat before things became even worse.

After Moro had told her how to break the bond, Sakura had quickly completed the hand signs and began burning the mist around Kakashi off. As the shackle around his neck broke, steam hissed out. Kakashi thanked her and ordered her to free his hands. In the background she could hear Moro and Zabuza clashing, Sasuke and Naruto in pain as they fought the hunter nin, and the terrifying roar of the thunder overhead. Normally a storm wouldn't unnerve her like this, but this storm seemed to hunger for blood.

As she broke the last bond on Kakashi-sensei, she looked up to see the rapidly approaching form of Zabuza through the mist. She closed her eyes and screamed, anticipating the blade that would end her, but it never came. Instead, there was the horrid sound of steel rending flesh and bone, and then a splash. She opened her eyes to see a very irate Kakashi charging Zabuza. "DAMNIT!" he swore, hitting Zabuza hard. "I promised them, I swore, that I'd never allow one of my comrades to die in battle, and I FAILED!" Kakashi roared.

"Heh, you Konoha ninjas make me laugh," Zabuza laughed. "So noble, even to the bloody end."

Despite all of their combined effort, Naruto and Sasuke couldn't manage to escape the hunter-nin's hall of mirrors, and both were beginning to look like a pin cushion. When they heard the splash, the hunter nin apologized to them. "I'm sorry, but I have to end this now. I can't keep Zabuza-sama waiting, and he will be finished soon."

Sasuke swore. "Naruto, can you make one more round of clones? He's slowing down, I can catch him," he asked.

"Hell yeah, Sasuke-teme, I can do this all day," Naruto boasted, trying to hide his panting, making the unique hand sign before ten more of him appeared. They all dashed towards the mirrors, and the hunter nin began her deadly dance from mirror to mirror. Just as she threw the senbon to dispel the last clone, a large fireball hit her in the arm.

"How is that possible?" she thought to herself. "He shouldn't be capable of tracking my movements, let alone hitting me with all those senbon sticking out of him." The she looked at his eyes, where his sharingan had at last awakened. "Impressive, to awaken a kekkai genkai like that out on the battlefield. Sadly, it won't make a difference, because I'm going to kill you both now," she announced.

"Hang in there, dobe, we've got this," Sasuke told Naruto confidently, without looking back at his teammate.

"Heh, I told you, teme, I can do this all..." Naruto began before fainting from his injuries and chakra exhaustion. Haku began her attack once more. Sasuke swore again, pulling a senbon out of his arm, leaping in front of Naruto and trying to stop all of the needles. He grabbed the boy and threw him aside. Naruto tried to stand, "The ninja," he panted. "Who will, Hokage of the Village, Hidden in the Leaves, NEVER, GIVES. UP!" he shouted as he pushed himself to his feet. Beneath the mask, Haku smiled. She leapt out of the mirror, throwing the first batch at Sasuke to push him farther away from the blond, and then threw the second at the immobile and hardly standing blond's vital points.

Naruto watched as one of the senbon came right at his right eye. The next thing he knew, Sasuke was in front of him, taking the blows that would have killed him. As Sasuke began to fall, Naruto tried to catch him, but was dragged down to his knees. "Why, why did you save me?" he cried.

"I don't know," Sasuke mumbled. "My body just moved. I hated you, why did I save you? Now I can't possibly hope to kill my brother for what he did," he ended as his eyes glazed over.

"He died honorably," Haku said seemingly emotionlessly. "You should be proud that he gave his life to save you."

Naruto looked up at the mirror. As he saw the hunter nin, his pupil changed from the brilliant sapphire to the color of bloody rubies with a slit for a pupil. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared in an inhuman voice as malevolent chakra began to swirl around him. Haku darted around, nailing the boy with the long throwing needles. The boy should have been done for, but he merely roared and the needles were pushed out of his body, the holes steaming as they closed. Haku swore, trying to end the battle right then, but the possessed boy roared again, and the needles spun into the mirrors.

Like an animal, the boy leapt rabidly at the mirror she was hiding in and shattered it. Realizing that the mirrors would no longer aid her, she let the rest follow suit. The boy punched her in the face and followed her, landing before she did and viciously kicking her. She managed to stand before the monstrous kid landed in front of her and began to swing. Time slowed as his fist rushed towards her face and her mask fell off in pieces. The blow never came. "Why do you hesitate? You said you would kill me for killing your friend. Why do you hesitate? I have nothing else to live for, I failed Zabuza-sama. Please, kill me, spare me the shame of failure," Haku begged.

"What? Doesn't your life mean anything at all?" Naruto asked. "How can you just throw your life away for that guy?"

"Zabuza-sama saved me. When I was a kid, my father saw me playing with a ball of ice chakra. In Kiri, they persecute those with kekkai genkai. Soon enough a mob was at my house. They killed my mother, and were about to kill me, when I exploded. The house was impaled upon the ice. After that, I wondered alone, no one loved me, no one helped me, until he came. I was almost dead, and he took me as his apprentice, helped me heal, and taught me. He made me his tool, but now that I failed him I am a broken tool, and broken tools are discarded like trash, so please, spare me the shame," Haku explained. Naruto stared at her, when in the distance the sound of birds chirping could be heard, along with Zabuza struggling. "I'm sorry, but there is still something I must do," she ran off to save her master.

* * *

Moro sank down into the dark depths of the water beneath the bridge. "Damn, this sucks," he thought as his lungs burned from the saltwater that had flooded them and the salt burned the cut that had sliced right through his ribs, but missed all the vital organs. "Dying really sucks," he thought to himself as his eyes saw no more.

Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by darkness and there was a lady sitting by a campfire. Her dark brown hair mirrored his, but her eyes were a different color, and her cheeks were marred by a pair of lightning bolts that mirrored each other across her face. "Kaa-san?" he mumbled, still remembering his agonizing death.

She smiled sadly at him. "My son," she began. "We're proud of you, and we're sorry that we left you all alone."

He grinned back. "Well, I wasn't always alone. I always had Naruto nii-san," he told her.

Her smile grew. "I am glad that you could make friends in Konoha, despite it all."

Moro noticed that she was beginning to cry. "Kaa-san, what's wrong?"

"My son is growing into a fine young man, and I am glad to have met you, but its time to go back. You are not fully here, and your friends need you." Moro nodded, hugged her goodbye, and found himself back at the bottom of the river with a bolt of crimson lightning rushing towards him. As it struck, his strength was renewed.

Calming the natural panic caused by his water filled lungs, Moro gathered all the chakra he could to his legs and pushed himself up out of the water. He landed on the surface of the water and began coughing up the water. As soon as he could, he began to run up the bridge to help the others. Waiting at the unfinished end of the bridge and hidden in the mist, Gatou had a small army of thugs waiting. He jumped on one's shoulders, making him cry out, and then leapt over the remaining men towards the sound of chirping birds. Despite the mist, he could feel were everything was. He saw Kakashi preparing to finish Zabuza with a lightning jutsu, and then Haku appeared to intercept the blow. Using the rest of his strength, Moro bodily shoved the girl aside at the last minute and was struck by Kakashi's Raikiri.

Time slowed for Kakashi as his finishing move approached Zabuza's black heart. He began panicking as Zabuza's apprentice appeared to intercept the blow. Time slowed again as the girl was pushed aside just before the blow hit, and he watched as it began to burn Moro, who screamed in utter agony. Surprisingly, the vicious attack did not impale the boy like it should have. Instead, the boy slumped to the ground, unable to stand. "It's over, Kakashi-sensei, they have no reason to fight us, and we need their help," he coughed. "Zabuza-san, please dispel the mist and look towards the end of the bridge," he finished before blacking out.

Zabuza was in a daze as the girl he loved like a daughter tried to save him, and then as the boy, who by all accounts should have been dead several times over, saved her. He cursed, but then complied with the boy's wishes. As he did, he found the thugs that were waiting. "Gatou, what the hell are you doing here," he swore.

Said shady dealer stepped forward. "Well, you rogue ninjas are awfully expensive, so I figured, I'll just kill you, that way I don't have to pay you," the short fat man chuckled at his own cleverness. "And if you and your bitch of an apprentice failed, well, we were here to finish the job. But unfortunately, thanks to this brat here," he said with a kick to Moro's unconscious body, "that plan is all ruined. "

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM, YOU SON OF A WHORE," Naruto shouted, with the kyuubi's chakra once again manifesting around him. "TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU." Almost a thousand of Naruto's appeared on the Wave half of the bridge. "LET'S RIP THEM TO PIECES," he roared.

Gatou turned tail to run back behind his thugs, but only got about halfway before an arrow cut him off, making the man soil himself. "DON'T FORGET ABOUT US, WE WANNA HELP TOO," Inari shouted, leading an army of villagers.

"Heh, I think we've been outclassed, Kakashi," Zabuza joked. He demeanor flashed as he looked at Naruto and said, "Gatou is mine." And with that, war was fought on the bridge as Zabuza led the clones and villagers against Gatou's thugs, Kubikiri Houcho swirling around him. Some were foolish enough to try to take their chances in the water, but the storm and sea claimed their lives. In the end, none of the thugs survived the slaughter.

* * *

Sakura cried over Sasuke's needle filled pincushion of a body. The hunter nin limped over to them. "If you pull the needles out, that boy will awake, you know," she said emotionlessly. Sakura immediately wiped her eyes and began pulling the senbon out of Sasuke's body. When he stirred, Sakura screamed his name and hugged him tightly, crying more.

"Sakura, can you please stop? You're hurting me," he mumbled. He saw Haku standing above him and tensed.

"Relax, I will not harm either of you. I apologize for earlier, but as you can see, I did not aim to kill." Sasuke merely grunted and looked the other way. Haku then limped over to where Zabuza was resting, next to the exhausted Kakashi and the unconscious Moro.

"So then, what will you do now?" Kakashi asked, pulling out his favorite book, which caused Haku to blush furiously.

"You're not going to kill us?" she asked.

"Hmm, tempting. However, our mission was only to protect the bridgebuilder, and we've completed that," Kakashi replied, distracted.

"We'll have to run before the Kiri nin get here," Zabuza answered.

Beside them, Moro began to wake up, moaning in pain. He pushed himself into a sitting position. "You know, with your injuries, you really shouldn't be moving around so much," he pointed out. "We'll have to wait here until Konoha can send some medic nins to heal him," he said to Zabuza and Haku. "But we won't stop you from leaving." Zabuza nodded slightly in appreciation.

"How about we take them back with us," Moro said with a groan, now being held still by Haku. "They could join Konoha's ranks, and then Kiri couldn't hunt them anymore," he proposed.

"Yes, but as it is, we can't guarantee that Hokage-sama won't turn them over to Kiri to form an alliance," Kakashi countered.

"Then, as head of the Chiarashi clan, I'll vouch for them," Moro replied heatedly.

"You would do that for us?" Haku asked. "Zabuza almost killed you, and I almost killed your friends," she said, shocked.

"We're ninja," Moro replied. "Today's enemies may very well be tomorrow's allies. I don't mind extending a welcome hand, and I doubt Sandaime-sama minds either. Its up to you two, really," he finished before passing out once more, his head falling into Haku's lap. The girl's face went red as a beet.

* * *

Three days later the team of med nins arrived by crossing the Bridge of Salvation and immediately set out healing the injured Konoha team. They closed Sasuke's stab wounds first, as that was the easy part of their job. They ushered everyone out of Tazuna's house while they worked on Moro for three hours. They mended his cleft ribs, repaired the damage to his lungs from the saltwater, and healed the chakra burn from Kakashi's Raikiri strike. However, they could not heal where the lightning struck him on his cheeks and the skin had changed blue. They then proceeded to head back to the village immediately, despite Tsunami's hospitality. Later that night when they were alone, Haku asked him why. "Because you are too good of a person for your life to be brought crashing down around you like that," he told her. She kissed him on the cheek before turning in for the night. When he was alone, he said, "Because you're beautiful and I couldn't stand if you got hurt," to no one in particular. Two days later Kakashi deemed that it was time to return back to the village.

The trek back to Konoha was fairly uneventful, except for Sasuke making Moro promise that they would fight when they were both at their max. They went to report the successful mission to the Hokage, who had been in a council meeting. Sakura and Naruto were made to wait in the hall outside by the ANBU guards. They tried to stop Moro, but with his Kekkei Genkai awakened, he was technically head of his clan. Kakashi led the two missing ninjas, Moro and Sasuke into the room.

"What is the meaning of this? ANBU, seize these children and the missing nins. Throw them in a holding cell until the council decides on their punishment," Danzo ordered.

Three ANBU with the kanji for root on their masks moved from the shadows to comply. The first made the mistake of grabbing Moro like a child. He ended up getting thrown out a window. The one that went after Sasuke was caught in a genjutsu from the Sharingan. The final one, recognizing Zabuza, aimed to kill. He was the unlucky one; Haku froze the blood in his veins. The amount of time that the blood was frozen wasn't fatal, but the root operative did have to be taken to the hospital.

"I was under the impression that the heads of the ninja clans are supposed to be invited to council meetings, even if they are under age," Moro interrupted Danzo's rant about their assault on good shinobi. "And these two here are my wards, and are awaiting the hokage's permission to join our ranks."

"Genin Nodachi," Danzo read off a report handed to him. "You claim to be of a Konoha clan, but the village has you marked as an orphan of unknown parentage. So, what clan are you from?" the war hawk sneered.

"I thought you still had one good eye, Danzo," Moro remarked. "You're old enough to recognize the clan markings on my face."

Danzo began to sweat, just noticing the twin lightning bolts on the boy's face. "The Chiarashi are no longer recognized as a Konoha clan, besides that seat is already filled," he tried to discredit Moro's claim.

"This council does not have the power to strip clan status from any group," Moro countered. "And you say that the seat is occupied, but I see an empty chair. Produce this heir of the main family you have that can lay claim to the council seat."

"One of my root ANBU hold the seat, I can send for him immediately," the old man prepared. "Besides, other than my one operative, who chose to remain loyal to the village, the rest left and committed mass suicide. Those markings are obviously fake."

Moro smiled. Outside thunder rumbled and the markings burned bright red. "Do you still doubt their authenticity?" he asked venomously. Danzo carefully rescinded his claim. Sasuke was shown to the Uchiha seat as they waited for Danzo's operative to arrive.

"The Chiarashi were known for a combination of two kekkei genkai which allow them to be told apart," Danzo began. "The first, is the pulse release, which causes chakra to radiate from their bodies constantly. It disrupts any genjutsu that would affect them and blinds doujutu users. However, it takes a heavy price on the clan. Because of the constant unconscious chakra drain, many of the infants do not survive, succumbing to chakra exhaustion. Before the first week, there is a 95% fatality. After that, it drops to 75% until they reach two years of age. By the time they turn seven, their bodies can handle the constant stress of the pulse," Danzo explained.

"Can you skip to the part where any of this is relevant, Danzo-sama," Shikaku Nara yawned.

"Hyuuga-sama, would you be kind enough to tell me which of these shinobi has the pulse release?" Hiashi Hyuuga then activated his Byakugan and pointed to the root operative. Danzo began to smile when Hiashi gasped and dropped his byakugan.

"Both have the damn pulse release," he growled, rubbing his eyes and bothering one of the other council members for some aspirin for his headache.

"The second kekkei genkai can only be activated by the main family after a life-threatening situation, and gives them a natural command over raiton in additon to their other types. Those who have awakened it are marked with the twin bolts, as the imposter claims to have. Mantis, please remove your mask," Danzo commanded. The ninja complied, revealing a pair of golden lightning bolts that framed his face.

Moro clapped. "Very well played Danzo. However, the third element, while remarkable, is not the kekkei genkai, merely a side effect. The real Kekkei Genkai is the Ranton. So then," Moro said with a faux smile. "Mantis-san, please demonstrate your control over the Ranton." When Mantis could not, Danzo sat down, glaring angrily at Moro as he took his seat. "Council, as head of the Chiarashi I enact clan right to demand the release of Mantis to my custody as the head of the clan."

Danzo, Himura and Hoharu immediately denied Moro's request. Together, Moro could not press the issue. Instead, he drew Masayoshi and instructed Mantis to commit Harikari.

Danzo protested this. "On what grounds should this member of your nigh extinct clan do this?"

"As clan head, it is my duty to enforce clan law, which supercedes even the direct protection of the Hokage by Konoha law. It is under the same law that the Hyuuga clan can not be punished for the use of the caged bird seal, even if it ends in the death of a branch member," Moro stated, and both the Hokage, who was smoking his pipe and watching Danzo humiliate himself, and Hiashi Hyuuga nodded.

Mantis motioned to speak before he completed the act. "I have disgraced the clan, Moro-sama, and for that, my cousin, I accept my fate. With this blade, I shall carry out the entire role before this council. My only regret is that I did not meet you and uphold my duty to the main family." Mantis then proceeded to slice open his stomach and then decapitate himself. Moro knelt before the corpse, wiped his blade and resheathed it. He allowed a single tear to fall for the family he never got to have, before turning to the rest of the council. "As head of the Chiarashi, I have taken Momochi Zabuza, formerly of Kiri, and Haku, who has never been a registered ninja to any nation as wards. Are there any here who protest against this action?" Several argued that doing so would provoke war with Kiri, but they were out numbered.

"Zabuza has been ranked as jonin, so he will reclaim that rank," the Hokage announced. "Haku, however will be entered into the ranks as a genin, and if her jonin sensei believes her to be ready, can nominate her for the upcoming chuunin exams. Do you protest this, Moro-san?"

"No, that is acceptable,"Moro agreed.

"Then, I believe that would be everything for this meeting gentlemen, we will reconvene the week after the chuunin exams next month. Until then, dismissed."

Zabuza approached the aged kage. "Hokage-sama, if possible I would like to be the jonin sensei for Haku."

The Sandaime nodded. "I had planned on that, now I just need to find two more members."

Danzo, ever the sneak, joined the conversation. "Excuse me, did you say you need a few people to be on a genin team, Sarutobi? I just so happen to have an operative who is almost chunin level who could fill in until the end of the exams."

The hokage considered what the old war hawk was proposing before nodding his affirmative. "Very well, then, Danzo, instruct your operative to meet at training ground seven tomorrow at seven to meet his new team." After the crippled man left, the Hokage turned back to Zabuza, who was now joined by Moro and Haku. "Moro, do you mind if I move you onto this new squad?" Moro shook his head no, and the old man smiled. "Beware, this root operative that Danzo plants will be fiercely loyal to him, and will probably pass any skills and info he can onto his master."

"We'll take that into account, Hokage-sama," Moro aknowledged, "Now, if I might be excused, I need to get some popcorn for a little show," he excused himself and walked out of the room. "Though of course you're welcome to join me," he shouted back, and all three followed him.

* * *

_Elsewhere with Naruto and team_

As Sakura finished her bowl of Ichiraku ramen, she began going through her pockets looking for money to pay when she grasped the scroll from Moro. "Hey, baka," she got his attention. "Moro told me to give this to you."

Naruto looked confused, but took the scroll and opened it. After a moment he yelled. "WHAT? I CAN'T DO THAT!" Sakura began reading the scroll over his shoulder. It read

Naruto,

If you're reading this, then I found a use for calculus on a mission. Therefore, you have to ask Hinata on a date. In the seal below you'll find dinner reservations, proper clothes, and money. Don't forget to get her flowers. I hear that the Yamanakas sell nice arrangements

Moro

Sakura began giggling like a schoolgirl as Naruto asked Kakashi if he had to. Kakashi replied that if he had made the bet, then he did have to, since calculus had freed him from Zabuza's jutsu. Naruto looked mortified, but said something about going to find Hinata.

Sasuke stopped him, and for a moment Naruto's hopes rose. "Wait, Kakashi-sensei, he can't ask Hinata on a date right now," he began. Naruto began thanking him very loudly and Sakura began shaking her fist at him. "I don't have my camera on me." Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura face planted.

"Did Sasuke just make a joke?" they all thought in unison. "Naruto is a bad influence on him."

From the rooftops, Moro and company watched as Naruto made a very big scene. The Hokage tried to keep a straight face as he told Moro off for betting, but even he was clutching his sides from laughing. Kakashi and Sakura kept Naruto at the ramen stand as Sasuke ran back to the Uchiha compound to get a camera to record it. While he was gone, Sakura gave Naruto tips and threatened that if he didn't quit looking so downtrodden, she would use him as a punching bag.

When Sasuke returned, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura jumped on the roofs so they could watch without interrupting. Moro waved them over and they watched as Naruto asked Hinata, who had been returning from training with her team, if he could talk to her for a minute. The girl went scarlet, which caused Naruto to ask if she was alright. She mumbled something that he couldn't understand, and Kurenai dragged Kiba, who didn't want to leave Hinata with Naruto, and Shino, who was curious as to what was happening away. After they were out of sight, they joined the growing party on the roofs.

"A-ano, Na-naruto-k-kun, w-what- d-did yo-you wa-nt t-to t-talk to m-me about," Hinata asked shyly.

Naruto scratched her head, not understanding why she was stumbling, but decided to get it over with. "I was wondering if maybe, you would like to go out to eat with me tomorrow night," he asked quickly.

Hinata grew three shades redder. "L-l-like on, on a-a-a d-d-date?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, like on a date," Naruto said. Hinata never managed to answer, as she promptly fainted and Naruto had to catch her to keep her from cracking her head on the pavement.

On the roofs, everyone tried their hardest not to let Naruto hear them laughing, which wasn't too hard since he was a little preoccupied and loud about the unconscious yet smiling Hyuuga heir. "So," Kurenai asked, "Where was he going to take her for dinner?"

"They have standing reservations for Lotus," Moro answered. Kurenai and Sakura's jaws dropped.

Kakashi looked at him curiously. "That place is a five star restaurant\ and has a year and a half waiting list. How did you get them standing reservations?" Everyone turned in to glare at him.

"What, its amazing what you can get when you slip papers into the Hokage's paperwork." The Hokage facepalmed, and everyone else face planted.

_**OMAKE**_

Moro and Naruto were walking down a street when they noticed a section where the planking on the fence was going horizontal instead of vertical. "You can come on out now, Konohamaru," Naruto said.

"Damn, you caught me again, Boss," Konohamaru said. "Hey Boss, can you help me train to be stronger, like you did before?"

Naruto got a downright evil smile on his face as he began counting the days. "Well, we did develop a new training program, but it has an 89 % fatality rating." Moro was confused but decided to play along.

"YES!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "That's exactly the kind of training I need, I'll do it, what do I have to do?"

Naruto pulled out a scroll and opened it. Knicking his finger with a kunai, he spread blood across the seal and turned it toward the little child. "It's pretty simple," Naruto said. "You just run." The scroll went off and shot a bunch of catnip at Konohamaru, who looked confused.

"Run, run from what," he asked. Moro and Naruto jumped behind a merchant stand for cover. Down the street, brown blur came running and jumped on the boy's face, clawing at it mercilessly. With great effort, the boy eventually managed to remove the cat from his face and ran away screaming.

"Was that Tora, the daimyo's wife's cat?" Moro asked while laughing.

A/N: Its been a while, Cloud. No, but really, i've been kind of busy lately so this has been a little slow going. Its just under 10k words though, so I hope you enjoyed, please review, flames are good for laughs.


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